[3] The documentary continued the story from the previous Highland Trilogy Films, exploring the relationship between the half-white, half-native Joe Leahy, who was by then tribal leader, and his neighbours, the Ganiga people.
[4][5] After shooting was completed for Joe Leahy's Neighbours, Anderson and Connolly planned to return to witness the wealth eventuating for the Ganiga people.
However, in response to the drop in coffee prices, the film was adapted to respond to events as they unfolded, living on location for a year.
[6] Anderson and Connolly returned to Australia after they were endangered by the tribal war when the rival tribe perceived them as choosing sides after taking a Ganiga to a hospital to remove an arrow from their chest.
[7] Connolly later in 2005 wrote a book on the shooting of the documentary, called Making ‘Black Harvest’ – Warfare, Filmmaking and Living Dangerously in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.