Documentary footage claims to show rare moment uncontacted forest tribe see man for first time

Documentary footage claims to show the first moment that an uncontacted tribe meet white people.

In the footage, Belgian man Jean-Pierre Dutilleux was in Papua New Guinea making contact with the Toulambi tribe in what was claimed to be a first.

The video shows people gathering around Dutilleux and touching his skin before shaking hands after he gifts them some matches.

Footage from the documentary, which was released in 1993, ended up circulating online where it was claimed that the Toulambi thought that Dutilleux and his camera crew were 'ghosts', but it has proven to be a controversial piece of footage.

That's because there are several other claims of contact with the Toulambi throughout the years, and others have said that they don't live very far out of anyone else's way.

The footage claims to show contact with a tribe in Papua New Guinea. (Youtube / MEDIA TOUR)

While some online who saw the footage said it was an amazing sight, others are more sceptical that they're actually watching the first moment a tribe are seeing a white person.

Some sceptics have claimed that between 1979 and 1987, the tribe met three ethnologists, one of whom 'denounced this documentary as fraud'.

That would be Pierre Lemonnier, who it was claimed had met the tribe in 1985 several years before this footage was taken, and who slammed the documentary as 'untruthful, racist, revolting', as the Toulambi 'lives less then four days away by foot from an administrative center with teachers, a landing strip, a radio, nurses and of course a preacher'.

Lemonnier later said he was sued for slander over a paper he wrote in 2004, where he says they are actually called the Ankave and that between 1929 and 1972, there were at least six separate encounters which could have resulted in contact.

The authenticity of the footage is heavily disputed. (YouTube/MEDIA TOUR)

He said: "In the case of the ‘Toulambi’, which I discuss at some length here, this has resulted in my being attacked by journalists and being summoned to a legal court to provide ‘proof’ of the absence of any unknown tribal group in a region where Jean-Luc Lory of the [CNRS] and I were doing research amongst communities more than 20 years ago."

Whether or not the documentary footage is authentic is therefore the matter of some debate.

People may see the footage and think they are witnessing an amazing moment of first contact, but historical records would indicate that these people have been contacted before.

Thus it is always worthwhile to take these supposedly incredible moments with a pinch of salt.

Topics: Documentaries, World News, History, Social Media

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker