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They say I'm more than 100 years old.

ON THIS REMOTE VANUATU VILLAGE.....

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title shot 100 year old chief

My name is Johnson Kowia. This is my place.

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...IS ONE OF THE LAST PRIMITIVE CULTURES ON EARTH.

NO CARS, FLAT SCREEN TVS OR BOXING DAY SALES.

BUT ALSO NO APPARANT GREED, JEALOUSY OR WAR.

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RACHEL WILSON

They have no money?

They have no money, they have no clothes, they have no material goods.

No electricity?

No electricity.

And yet they're the happiest people in the world

They seem to be, they seem to be

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BUT THEY'RE HANGING ON BY A THREAD.

top shot village kids running

I want our culture to stay strong, like it is now.

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TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE'S TRADITIONAL WAYS, TO KEEP THE MODERN WORLD AT BAY, THE OLD CHIEF HAS TURNED TO CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY.

fx music

01.01.07.00

TECHNOLOGY THAT'S BEEN DEVELOPED IN NEW ZEALAND AND WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE ALL SEE THE WORLD.

It actually feels like they are in the room - It does, doesn't it?

I think that it does, I think its amazing

I feel like I could touch that old bloke there.

01.01.20.00

THE GLASSES AREN'T FOR SHOW - THEY'RE 3D AND PUT YOU RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS REMOTE VILLAGE.

Does it feel like you are back there ?

I mean I feel like I am standing in that garden

.. that’s incredible really.

01.01.36.00

FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS DUNEDIN'S ANIMATION RESEARCH HAS BEEN MAKING A 3D DOCUMENTARY ON CHIEF KOWIA AND HIS FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE OLD WAYS.

fx now I feel the time I have left isn't long

01.01.50.00

HE KNEW HE WOULD DIE SOON BUT TRUSTED EMMY AWARD WINNING CAMERAMAN MIKE SINGLE AND PRODUCER RACHEL WILSON TO TELL HIS STORY.

RACHEL WILSON

They are subsistence ah…crop growers, um…they grow their own meat… pigs in particular, bullock… which is cow, um….they have everything they need, the forest provides for everything// and he didn't want his people going looking for something that would never make them happy when really they had life's necessities right there for them.

MARK CRYSELL

Is it fair to keep them at a certain stage of development then, and not allow them say to come forward and take advantage of perhaps the better things of modern technology?

RACHEL WILSON

He knows that if they started trying to chase um…money or look for work they would leave the village, once they left the village they would leave their gardens, they would leave their families, and you can quickly see how it would start disintegrating as a society.

01.02.37.00

PACIFIC WAR

IN THE 1940S HE'D LEFT HIS ISLAND AND WITNESSED FIRST HAND THE HORROR OF THE PACIFIC WAR.

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He was really astounded… dumbfounded by the way this world was living outside his own world, came back to his own village and told his people that, and really vowed and declared he'd, he'd live a different life and keep his people living a happy life.

01.02.58.00

EX SUNDAY MIKE SINGLE STORY

SUNDAY CAUGHT UP WITH MIKE SINGLE THREE YEARS AGO AS HIS VIEWFINDER ON THE WORLD WAS CHANGING AS HE WAS MAKING ONE OF NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST EVER 3D FILMS - THE HISTORY OF MOUNT COOK/AORAKI.

01.03.12.00

3D GRAB FROM MIKE SINGLE STORY

WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW AT THE TIME IS THAT HE AND RACHEL WILSON WERE ALREADY THINKING ABOUT TO TAKING THE TECHNOLOGY TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN VANUATU.

01.03.21.00

RACHEL WILSON

This was a story that couldn't wait, when we've met the chief and seen how old he was and how fragile he was really, its not a story you can put on hold and say oh we'll do that in a couple of years when the 3D technology catches up.

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THE COMMITTMENT WAS MADE....

IAIN TAYLOR (ANIMATION RESEARCH LTD)

I would not have believed we would be seeing it on a TV screen less than 2 and a half years later

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AND THE DUNEDIN BOFFINS WHO TURNED AORAKI 3D GOT DOWN TO WORK.

THESE SAME PEOPLE THAT BROUGHT THE AMERICAS CUP TO LIFE WERE NOW TRYING TO PESERVE A PRIMITIVE SOCIETY.

01.03.58.00

IAIN TAYLOR

You get the sense it's just a totally different feel for the person, you actually feel like you know him um and for me 3D had always been about you know the things you see at Disney World where all these things fly around, but actually the way it takes you inside a story and gives you that next level is really quite remarkable.

01.04.15.00

THE TRICKY PART OF “THE MAKING OF” WAS INTEGRATING INTO THIS SOCIETY WITHOUT CHANGING IT TOO MUCH.

RACHEL WILSON

We lived in a grass hut each time we went there, its dirt floor crawling with insects, great big spiders, no sanitary conditions, ah…no shower, um…look you just go with it its ah…

And many times we asked ourselves you know gosh do we really need to be having all our gear, all our material goods, when really we could live like they do and supposedly be a lot happier.

Yeah could you?

I'd thought we've come too far, you know, we've got a different expectation of life now.

01.04.55.00

THE QUESTION NOW IS CAN A FILM REALLY HELP THE PEOPLE OF YAKEL RESIST THE IRRESISTIBLE?

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He's just moving everything around so he can take a photo

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IT'S WELL OFF THE BEATEN PATH BUT THERE'S AN ACTIVE VOLCANO NEARBY.

THE TOURISTS ARE ALREADY STARTING TO APPEAR IN INCREASING NUMBERS.

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What's your emotion when you look at that ?

It’s disrespectful standing over a small child with a lens like that filming when obviously the mother doesn't want to be filmed....really disrespectful.

So how is that different to what you were doing?

We were invited there to document the story of the chief and his people by carefully choosing the format and medium that we documented the story, and being 3D, you can see our camera is a mile away back, we are over their shoulder, we are not disrupting them, we are letting life continue.

01.05.46.00

Actuality – GRAHAM MCARTHUR

They do have a healthy cynicism of the whole procedure though because one of the dogs in the village is called Tourist.

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THE PLAN IS TO BUILD A STATE OF THE ART 3D THEATRE NEAR-BY SO THE TOURISTS CAN GET AS CLOSE AS THEY CAN TO THE VILLAGE WITHOUT DISRUPTING THEIR LIVES.

fx I know that chief.. this is a nice shot this one

01.06.07.00

THE VANUATU GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN THE PROJECT IT'S FULL BLESSING.

01.06.12.00

JACOB KAPERE, Vanuatu Cultural Advisor

It’s so important for future generations to hear his voice, he 's like a big pana ?) tree in the village, he's like a big library, and it’s his wisdom, his voice, his word, to be passed on which is so important that’s why he wanted to make this film for his people.

01.06.35.00

CHIEF KOWIA HAS PASSED AWAY NOW.

HE WANTED ALL DONATIONS GIVEN TO GO, LITERALLY, INTO A PIGGY BANK - MONEY THAT WILL BUY PIGS AND GARDENING TOOLS.

AND IF YOU'RE WONDERING, YES, THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE, PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER WATCHED TV BEFORE, WILL ALSO GET TO SEE THE FILM.

01.06.59.00

JACOB KAPERE

They ah would be surprised because they ...you know for them it will be like its alive ( wind noise) chief is alive again and for sure some of them will cry.

Hut in the rain

Fx Everybody quiet - Chief Kowia wants to tell us something…

01.07.17.00

AFTER MORE THAN A CENTURY, AGE EVENTUALLY WEARIED THE OLD CHIEF..

Fx " I can no longer continue to lead you"

01.07.27.00

BUT HIS DYING WISH WILL LIVE ON.

01.07.29.00

RACHEL WILSON

What he's hoping what he's done is left a legacy with his people to say look I hope you believe that we've got everything we need, I know, I've seen the outside world, we don't actually need all of that, and there's a lot of upset and hurt and violence and war out there, he's not saying its all bad but he's saying gee, look what we've got its actually pretty amazing.

But our world's also given us the tools that might help us save their world?

Possibly and isn't that a…ironic state to be in/

Fx music

… ends…. //