Krippendorfs Tribe (1998)

After squandering his grant money despondent and recently widowed anthropologist James Krippendorf must produce hard evidence of the existence of a heretofore undiscovered New Guinea tribe Grass skirts makeup and staged rituals transform his three troubled children into the Shelmikedmu a primitive culture whose habits enthrall scholars But when a spiteful rival threatens to blow the whistle on Krippendorfs ruse he gets into the act as well