Sukundimi Walks Before Me

Papuan Indigenous communities mobilise to fight a planned mine on the sacred Sepik River in this stirring portrait of ecoactivism.

When an Australian mining conglomerate announces plans to build a huge copper/gold mine and toxic-waste dam on Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River, local communities fear pollution and ecological degradation. The “Amazon of the Asia Pacific” snakes for over 1100 kilometres through virgin rainforest, and is one of the few remaining large rivers in the world whose water remains drinkable. It’s also home to tens of thousands, who’ve lived along the river for millennia, drawing on it for sustenance and spiritual lore. Led by the charismatic Emmanuel Peni, these communities begin to mobilise, coming together to fight the forces of old colonial power structures, extractive economic practices, multinational lobbying and the supposed inevitability of ‘progress’.

At once an intimate study of community and a rousing work of cine-activism, this boots-on-the-ground – or canoes-on-the-water – documentary offers a regional David vs Goliath story with deep ecological repercussions. Melanesian New Zealander filmmaker Matasila Freshwater (one of the directors of Vai, MIFF 2019) and Australian documentarian Lachlan McLeod (Clean, MIFF Closing Night 2022) collaborate with community members, their cameras invited to witness conversations, meetings and planning sessions. Filled with rich cinematography, Papuan folk songs and historical newsreels, Sukundimi Walks Before Me is a vivid portrait of virtuous defiance.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival