Original classification rating: PG. This clip chosen to be PG

This clip depicts shark calling on New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. A Kontu villager sits in front of his house and expresses his fear that the skill of calling the sharks for men to kill has been lost with the death of the last shark caller. A young man is then shown at sea in a narrow outrigger canoe, thumping the water with his paddle, explaining that he is performing magic to attract sharks. He shakes a coconut-shell rattle in the water, catches a shark, beats it to death with a club and hauls it into the canoe. The film includes subtitles and a voice-over narration.

Manuel Lui died while Dennis O’Rourke was making The Sharkcallers of Kontu . Manuel was the last man able to perform the magic from which all other sharkcalling magic was derived. The interview with the villager becomes particularly poignant after viewing the following scene of a traditional sharkcalling. The tremendous patience, skill and courage that a sharkcaller needs is captured in this captivating clip.

A villager laments the passing of the most important sharkcaller of his community. This sad moment is followed by a sharkcaller summoning, catching and killing a shark.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer 'Special power' from the documentary The Sharkcallers of Kontu as a high quality video download.

To play the downloadable video, you need QuickTime 7.0, VLC, or similar.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before downloading the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

You may retrieve materials for information only.

You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.

You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.

The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.