First contact

In 1930, when the Leahy brothers penetrated the interior of New Guinea in search of gold, they carried a movie camera. They captured on film their confrontation with stone age people who had no concept of human life beyond their valleys. Fifty years later, some of the participants recall their experiences. The Papuans tell how they thought the white men were their ancestors returned from the dead. Dan Leahy describes his fear at being outnumbered by these primitive people.
, Recounts the discovery of a flourishing native population in the interior highlands of New Guinea in 1938 in what had been thought to be an uninhabited area. Uses original footage shot by the explorers and interviews with them and the natives of the region. Recounts their initial reactions to each other. A sequel, Mountains of Gold: The People of Porgera, documents changes in the culture ten years later. Academy Award nominee. Closed Captioned., NOTE: Two (or more) records have been merged together to create this data.