This dramatic, poetic ode to the indelible human thirst for freedom and sovereignty tells the story of the extraordinary revolution in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, that paved the way for its seemingly imminent status as the world’s newest nation.
Giving voice to the island’s indigenous population, the film narrates the Pacific’s largest conflict since WWII and, in the process, reveals a complex legacy of colonisation—Papua New Guinea itself being a former colony of Australia, Germany and the UK.
At the end of the 1980s—in the face of displacement, big mining interests and environmental destruction—Bougainvilleans were left with no other option than popular revolt, to preserve a culture in which women, men and the environment form an inseparable vector of harmony and peace. A decade-long civil war ensued, during which a small group of islanders, initially armed with bows and arrows, brought down helicopters and guns. 20,000 Bougainvilleans died in the conflict—around 10% of the island’s population. But the indigenous population prevailed and, in a 2019 referendum, voted nearly 98% in favour of independence.
Bougainville now has a rare opportunity to follow a new path, championing the slogan, “When nature fights at your side, you can’t lose.”
