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First Contact

1982 · Film · documentary · 58 min

Part of The Highlands Trilogy

Directed by Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly

Documentary

"First Contact" is a 1983 documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson which recounts the discovery of a flourishing native population in the interior highlands of New Guinea in 1930 in what had been thought to be an uninhabited area. It is based on the book of the same name by the same authors. Inhabitants of the region and surviving members of the Leahy brothers' gold prospecting party recount their astonishment at this unforeseen meeting. The film includes still photographs taken by a member of the expedition and contemporary footage of the island's terrain. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

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  1. PositivebeefmanSep 11, 2022

    Top 5

    1. First Contact (1982) - Possibly the best documentary ever made https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085544/

    2. Rivers and Tides (2001) - Beautiful meditation on the art of Andy Goldsworthy, with music by Fred Frith https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307385/

    3. This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I'll Ever Make (2002) - The story of Popcorn Sutton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glQjCKAI4gA

    4. Alone in the Wilderness (2004) - Mostly original footage and commentary by Richard Proenneke https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437806/

    5. Apollo 11 (2019) - Narration-free documentary on the first moon landing https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8760684/

    Bonus picks:

    Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) is a dramatization but an incredibly accurate one https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/

    If mockumentaries count, everything by Christopher Guest is obligatory. There's also this short gem on the Centrifuge Brain Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVeHxUVkW4w

    Grizzly Man (2005) is not a mockumentary, but like most Herzog documentaries, it's not exactly straight https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/

    Finally, I'm a huge fan of first-nuclear-era documentaries made by the U.S. government, e.g.

    Army Nuclear Power Program (1963) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPWDMHH4rY4

    SNAP 8 Reactor (1963) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82nCRWawfhQ

    SNAPSHOT (1964) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9jI1Hdl5Yw

    Remote Maintanence of Molten Salt Reactors (?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHT-w2x6dDg

    and many more.