The Sharkcallers of Kontu (1982)

The Sharkcallers of Kontu depicts the ancient tradition of sharkcalling in the village of Kontu, on the remote west coast of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. There are only a few men remaining who use magic to call, trap and kill sharks by hand from their small outrigger canoes. Making this very old and extraordinary practice the spine of the film, the filmmaker also weaves in a compelling portrait of the daily life of the villagers. The Sharkcallers of Kontu explores the changes to cultural values and traditional customs wrought by colonisation, alcohol, commerce and Christianity. The film is beautifully shot in an observational style and makes memorable use of archival stills and interviews with villagers. Filmmaker Dennis ORourke narrates.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• colonisation
• cultural traditions
• ethnography
• Indigenous peoples
• Papua New Guinea
• religion
• shark attacks
• sociology
• traditional cultures

[spiritfingers1]

Some tribes in fiji also do shark calling/turtle calling/ and calling of the sacred red prawns on vatulele island.

Also Beqa islanders in Fiji walk on rocks heated in a firepit.

[islandwarrior16]

wow thats an eye opener, Fijians practice it, too? And Turtle calling? how does that work, thats very interesting

[momilani808]

Aloha Islandwarrior16,

Would you know if the Ancient Hawaiians done this too?

Your videos are so interesting!

aloha from Japan

[islandwarrior16]

Not that I know of. I know that sharks played a big role in Hawaiian mythology as they do with many other pacific islands.

thx for the comment.

[djkorn1]

I can't imagine why Manuel died...

[skydrake3]

One of the very exciting Oz documentaries...a great movie, a homage to the real nature experts...

[bittergent123]

fuck yea!!

[peksful]

@sashinder1 do some research b4 you write bullshit

[BALEnaVICO]

@sashinder1 No they don't... Fijians are Egyptians... Thats a fact!

[mangincmaki92]

Good shit man, we got the most tribes and languages in the world so its not common 4 us 2 know each one of thems traditions, i just found out about the shark callers only a couple years ago.. Keep up the posts

[sashinder1]

thats coz fijians come form this part of new guinea!

[daniyellowjello]

@dannykihoalu I agree

[dannykihoalu]

@daniyellowjello This is true, the shark is a body form of Ku, and an 'aumakua to many...but I'm unconvinced that all Hawaiians were against it, as shark-skin was one of the traditional materials used to make the pahu. Keeping in mind how sacred the pahu is, the use of shark skin could reflect how much reverence Hawaiians had for the shark.

[daniyellowjello]

@islandwarrior16 Hawaiians are against killing Sharks because they are a form of the god Ku and are also a personal god to many people ( 'aumakua).

[sashinder1]

thats great and all about fiji, we are talking about papua new guinea here, anyways, fijians come from papua new guinea!

[CONSTRINGACY]

Awsome yeh bash that shark!Freakin sharks need to die.