Historic Footage Acquired!

Historic footage is an important part of telling Caroline and Margaret’s story.  Locating footage from the 1920’s can be a challenge but we did find some beautiful and compelling scenes from three sources – and we would like to individually thank them for working with us during the identification, delivery of comp material for review, and licensing of the clips that will appear in the film.

The National Film and Sound Archives of Australia have been instrumental in the delivery of archival footage with the help of Sean Bridgeman, Zsuzsi Szucs and Siobhan Dee.

Pearls and Savages was produced and filmed by Frank Hurley between 1920 – 1923.  In addition, a book with his stunning images was written by Jim Specht and John Fields and published in 1984 titled Frank Hurley in Papua.  This book sits proudly on my shelf.  Our team  would like to thank the Hurley Family in Australia for their generous support of the film to allow inclusion of material from Pearls and Savages in the film pro bono.  This is significant and a testament to how important it is to support projects that have historic value.  

In addition to filming in Papua New Guinea, Frank Hurley was the principal photographer and filmmaker during the Shackleton-Endurance Expedition in the Antarctic between 1914 – 1916.

The National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution has also provided film clips from the Sugar Plant Hunting in New Guinea (1929), led by Dr. E.W. Brandes, with an extremely cost effective license.  Caroline and Margaret would be very happy to know that an expedition that they actually “hitchhiked” on is included in the documentary.  Thank you to Pam Wintle, Daisy Njoku, Dr. Joshua Bell and Media Preserve for making this possible.

Oddball Films, based in San Francisco, did extensive research to find us historic clips that help to expand on the time period when our heroines ventured out on their journey. Thank you Stephen Parr, Anthony Bianco, John Schmidt, and the archivists at the facility.  

Add to all this fabulous news is that WE MATCHED OUR REQUIRED FUNDS FOR NEA.

To everyone who stepped up to support the film with generous financial support, we are honored and thankful.  A shout out to all who have taken the time to donate online or via check to DER.  We are especially thankful to two friends who have watched me take this journey since the beginning.  I knocked on their door one early morning – which was the house that Caroline lived in for the last 40 years of her life – and it was an instant collaboration and long term friendship.  Jerry Fielder and Daniel Campbell, your generosity pushed us over the matching fund amount.

Licensing the archival footage is a huge milestone for Headhunt Revisited that was made possible by our backers and NEA!  We still need financial support for the last leg of this journey – mastering, outreach and distribution.  Though we can’t make any announcements yet, plans are in the works for releasing this film in the Spring!  We’re just around the corner!