Krippendorf's Tribe
| Krippendorf's Tribe | |
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Theatrical release poster
The tagline reads: "The last undiscovered tribe is about to expose themselves." |
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| Directed by | Todd Holland |
| Produced by |
Larry Brezner Ross Canter Whitney Green |
| Screenplay by | Charlie Peters |
| Based on |
Krippendorf's Tribe by Frank Parkin |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Bruce Broughton |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Edited by | Jon Poll |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $7,571,115 |
Krippendorf's Tribe is a 1998 American film adaptation of Frank Parkin's novel of the same name, directed by Todd Holland. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss as the eponymous professor, along with Jenna Elfman, Natasha Lyonne, and Lily Tomlin.
Respected anthropologist James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) and his wife, Jennifer (Barbara Williams), bring their three children along during their much-enjoyed search in New Guinea for a lost tribe. The search fails, despite the family's best efforts. After Jennifer's death back in the U.S., James falls into academic stagnation, having spent all his foundation grant money raising the children as a single parent. Scheduled to lecture at a college and fearful of being charged with misuse of grant funds, James concocts an imaginary tribe, the Shelmikedmu, using the names of his children as a basis. He later fakes a 16 mm "documentary" film, casting his children as tribe members and superimposing footage of a legitimate New Guinean tribe so as to enhance the illusion.
Anthropologist Veronica Micelli (Jenna Elfman) contacts cable-TV producer Henry Spivey (David Ogden Stiers), forcing James to continue creating fraudulent footage as James' rival Ruth Allen (Lily Tomlin) becomes suspicious. Because he has described a culture unlike any other, Krippendorf's fraud becomes increasingly famous. James himself masquerades as a tribal elder, while his two sons, Mickey (Gregory Smith) and Edmund (Carl Michael Lindner), create and enact increasingly imaginative rituals. Only the eldest child, James' daughter Shelly, refuses to participate due to her disgust at the dishonesty perpetrated by her father.
Taking advantage of her curiosity, James tricks Veronica into participating in his false documentary. When she discovers the truth, she is initially angry, but later helps James continue his fraud. Ruth Allen travels to New Guinea, discovering no tribe in the location specified by James. She transmits the news via fax to a colleague, who exposes James at a gala. James' imaginative son, Mickey, improvises a lie, that the Shelmikedmu hide by means of a magical ritual known only to them.
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Wikipedia