Sisters doing it for themselves: Women and filmmaking in PNG

Despite the financial and cultural odds against them, a small number of women in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are involved in filmmaking, as producers, directors, camera operators or combining all these roles. In this article I discuss three recent examples of women's involvement in filmmaking in PNG. The analysis demonstrates that by making films about and for their fellow Papua New Guineans, Papua New Guinean women are addressing and defining what constitutes 'community' and 'development' from an insider perspective. As the first article to focus specifically on the issue of gender, the article provides an important update on the subject of filmmaking in PNG.