Cinema · A way to begin
Tinpis Run
Pengau Nengo · 1991
Synopsis
Papa, chief of a Highlands tribe, has an accident while coming home drunk from a feast; his daughter Joanna and Naaki, a young man from the Sepik who was courting her, come to his aid. With the compensation, Papa buys a bush taxi, a “tinpis”, takes Naaki as a partner and offers him his daughter, but the two young people refuse this arranged marriage. The two men open a route from Mount Hagen to Madang, lose their money gambling against a politician and end up campaigning for him on an island.
Context
Co-produced by a Papuan company and the French company JBA Production, with British and Belgian contributions, the film was shot in Tok Pisin and edited by Andrée Davanture. Pengau Nengo wrote it with John Barre, Séverin Blanchet and Martin Maden, who also shot it; it is often presented as the country's first fiction feature. Shown in Port Moresby before its release, it was presented in 1991 at the festivals of Rotterdam, where it received a special mention, Locarno and the Three Continents Festival in Nantes.
Who it is for
A road comedy in Tok Pisin, subtitled in English or French, funny and easy to approach.
Prizes and reception
It remains the cult film of Papuan cinema, and its actors have won awards at several festivals, in Nouméa, in Paris and at the Balafon festival.
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