The follow up to First Contact, this film traces the fortunes of Joe Leahy, mixed-race son of Australian explorer MIchael Leahy and a Highland woman, and follows his uneasy relationship with his tribal neighbours, the Ganiga.

Joe built his coffee plantation on land bought from the Ganiga in the mid 1970s. Raised in the village but educated by the colonial whites, Joe has his feet in two cultural camps. While he may live in Western Gradeur, he is still surrounded by his subsistence level Ganiga 'Neighbours' who never let him forget the original source of his prosperity. Joe spends much of his waking hours just keeping the lid on things.

Filmmakers Connolly and Anderson lived for eighteen months on the edge of Joe's Plantation, in the 'no man's land' between Leahy and the Ganiga. Their lively, non-judgemental narrative film eloquently captures the conflicting values of tribalism and capitalism.

Synopsis

Set in the PNG Highlands and shot over ten years, First Contact (1983), followed by Joe Leahys Neighbours (1989) and Black Harvest (1992) have won 30 national and international awards, including an Academy Award nomination for First Contact. All three won the Grand Prix at Frances prestigious Festival Cinema du Reel, and AFI awards for Best Documentary.