Stori Tumbuna: Ancestors' Tales

There are still places unknown...

– Tagline for Stori Tumbuna: Ancestors' Tales

These young men became my close friends. Toru, Bar and I spent many hours together, working and relaxing, chewing betel nut and telling stories.

– Paul finds friends in Kapokpok

From their conversation I could gather that the basket of an older man was found high in the jungle, but the man was nowhere to be found.

– Paul describes hearing a worried conversation in the village

He went hunting, to find meat, and he met the Song who killed him.

– Patrick tells Paul what happened to the missing man

Song is like a wild man who lives in the jungle. Our elders tell us that the Song lives in the jungle and kills people.

– Patrick tells Paul about the Song

I know of no more successful or ingenious film that draws the viewer into another life-world while keeping faith with the tenor of its traditional narratives and respecting the lived experience of his/her interlocutors.

– New Zealand-born anthropologist Michael D Jackson on Stori Tumbana