Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
January 21, 2019
Humble Pacific island movie star Mungau Dain dies in mid-20s
HUMBLE & RESPECTED. This September 9, 2015 file photo
shows Mungau Dain in Venice, Italy. Dain had never considered acting
before he starred in the Oscar-nominated film Tanna. He got the role be-
cause his elders decided he was the best-looking guy in their traditional
village on the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Dain died in the capital of Port Vila
after contracting a leg infection that wasn’t quickly treated. He was in his
mid-20s. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
By Nick Perry
The Associated Press
ELLINGTON, New Zealand — Mungau Dain
had never considered acting before he starred in
the Oscar-nominated film Tanna. He got the
role because his elders decided he was the best-looking
guy in their traditional village on the Pacific island nation
of Vanuatu.
They would later describe him as their answer to Brad
Pitt.
Dain died this month in the capital, Port Vila, after
contracting a leg infection that wasn’t quickly treated. He
was in his mid-20s.
Martin Butler, who co-directed Tanna, said Dain wasn’t
a natural actor but was very enthusiastic, learned
quickly, and ended up giving a fabulous performance. The
movie won a number of awards, including two at the
Venice Film Festival.
Dain is survived by his wife Nancy and two children.
His village, Yakel, on Tanna island, remains in a
traditional two-week mourning period.
Jimmy Joseph, the cultural director for Tanna island,
said Dain was quiet, humble, and respected in Yakel,
where he had chosen to remain living even after achieving
some fame in the movie. He said Dain never drank or
smoked.
People in the village typically chose to live as they have
for centuries, in simple thatch huts and wearing nothing
but grass skirts or a penis shield called a nambas. They
raise crops and pigs, and observe a traditional way of life
known as kastom.
But the village isn’t completely isolated from modern
W
life. When villagers make the trek to the island’s main
town to sell the coffee beans they’ve grown or buy rice,
they usually wear clothes. Some have cellphones, which
they charge with small solar panels.
When Australia-based Butler and Bentley Dean
decided to make the movie, which is loosely based on a
true story, Butler said they quickly realized the village
elders would be doing the casting. He said Dain looked too
old for the role with his full beard, but 10 minutes later
he’d shaved it off at their request.
He said he fondly remembers how awkward Dain was
when trying to act in a scene in which he was supposed to
lift co-star Marie Wawa in his arms and carry her along a
river bed.
Butler said he and Dean plan to travel to Yakel at the
end of the mourning period to join the village in
celebrating Dain’s life.
“I was totally devastated. He was so fit and young and
gorgeous. His wife is fabulous and the kids are great,”
Butler said. “He was a great example of how you can live a
totally different type of life, and still be completely happy.”
Location producer Janita Suter, who lived in Yakel for
seven months during filming with her husband Dean and
their children, said if there was an award for most
improved actor, it would have to go to Dain. She said she
doesn’t think he’d even seen a movie before acting in one.
She said that when they travelled to Venice for the film
festival, she was in her apartment when the chandelier
and ceiling started shaking. It turned out it was Dain and
the other villagers in the room above, stomping their feet
in a traditional dance.
“He was a really proud ambassador for his people,” she
said. “It’s a real loss.”
She said Dain had been staying in Port Vila for the past
couple of months as he tried to get a temporary visa to
come to Australia and earn some money picking fruit. She
said a doctor had explained that Dain got an infection in
his leg that he didn’t treat and by the time he was taken to
the hospital he was unconscious and likely in septic shock.
Butler said he hoped there may be some way to get
better information to people in Vanuatu about the risks of
infections, and that Dain’s death could act as a catalyst.
China says it exchanged data with NASA on the far side landing
By Yanan Wang
The Associated Press
B
EIJING — China exchanged data with the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) on its recent mission to land a Chinese
spacecraft on the far side of the moon, the Chinese space
agency said, in what was reportedly the first such
collaboration since an American law banned joint space
projects with China that do not have prior congressional
approval.
The space agency’s deputy director, Wu Yanhua, said
NASA shared information about its lunar orbiter satellite
in hopes of monitoring the landing of the Chang’e 4
spacecraft, which made China the first country to land on
the far side of the moon.
China in turn shared the time and coordinates of
Chang’e 4’s scheduled landing, Wu told reporters during a
briefing on the lunar mission. He added that while
NASA’s satellite did not catch the precise moment of
landing, it took photographs of the area afterward.
The state-run China Daily said it was the first such
form of cooperation since the 2011 U.S. law was enacted.
NASA has not published any statements on the
collaboration and could not immediately be reached for
comment.
The lunar mission by Chang’e 4 and its rover, Jade
Rabbit 2, was a triumph for China’s growing space
program, which has been rapidly catching up with those of
Russia and the U.S. President Xi Jinping has placed space
exploration among the country’s national development
priorities and the far side mission offered a chance for
China to do something not done before by any other
country.
The far side of the moon — the side which faces away
from Earth — posed a challenge for scientists because it is
beyond radio signals’ reach. China set up a relay satellite
in May to receive communication from Chang’e 4.
“In the past, we were always rushing to catch up to the
advanced global standards” in space, said Wu Weiren, the
chief designer of China’s lunar exploration project.
“There were many things to catch up on, and fewer
things in which we could surpass others,” he said. “With
the probe of the far side of the moon this time, Chinese
people have done very well.”
Officials at the briefing declined to give specific figures
on the costs of the space program.
Wu Yanhua said the Chang’e 4 was originally built as a
“backup product” for Chang’e 3. He said the spending
needed to refit it for its new objective was akin to repairing
a short section of subway line.
Around the end of this year, China plans to launch
Chang’e 5, which is to collect and bring back samples from
the near side of the moon, the first time that has been done
since 1976. Scientists are still researching whether to
send Chinese astronauts, Wu said.
The country has also said that it will welcome scientists
and astronauts from around the world to make use of its
space station, which is slated for completion by 2022.
INFORMATION EXCHANGE. In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center shows the
lander of the Chang’e-4 probe, right, and the rover Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit 2) taking photos of each other on Friday, January 11, 2019. China’s space
agency says it worked with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to collect data from the far side of the moon. The state-run China Daily
said it was the first such collaboration since 2011. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua via AP)
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