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THE TEAM
A FILM ABOUT AND BY
The Huni Kuin, blessed by the spiritual chief Ninawá Pai da Mata and all elders, men, women and youngsters who led the way to share some of their mysteries and way of life beyond what the eyes can see.
PRODUCED BY
Bem-te-vi Produções, an independent brazilian nomad film company that celebrates ancient knowledge that brings life meaning and value, directed and shot by the filmmakers Lara Jacoski and Patrick Belem while they have lived and experienced the Huni Kuin way of life for four years, where their contact made it possible to register the cultural renaissance of this people.
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION
Bodhi Kaya + Coco Amos (AF)
CONTRIBUTING PRODUCER
Kristen M. Nicole (US)
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Lucía Alonso (ES)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Lara Jacoski + Patrick Belem (BR)
Lucía Alonso (ES) + Gary Van Wyk (AF)
SOUNDTRACK
The Huni Kuin people
SUPPORTED BY
This project wouldn't be possible without
the contribution of so many kind souls who have
supported the project and the Huni Kuin culture
through crowdfunding, which we give many thanks.
DIRECTED & WRITTEN BY
Lara Jacoski + Patrick Belem
PRODUCED BY
Bem-te-vi Produções (Brazil)
CO-PRODUCED BY
Joakim Hauge (Hinterland.Co - Norway)
IN COLLABORATION WITH
Ninawá Pai da Mata
Txai Vinícius - Yube Ika Ni Bai
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION
Oona Chaplin (Double Rainbow Productions - US)
Torstein Grude (Piraya Film - NO)
Alex Moreno (Cine Creative Media - US).
MAIN CREDITS
THE PEOPLE
The Kaxinawá people, self-named Huni Kuin (which means true people) are the most populous indigenous group in Acre with 16 thousand individuals in Brazil, and 2 thousand people in Peru rainforest.
The film takes place at the Huni Kuin villages of Kaxinawá Humaitá River Indigenous Land, demarcated in 1996, located at the Humaitá river that flows in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon forest, in the state of Acre. The indigenous land has 127.383 hectares, 99% of forest, giving home to 7 villages and 2 placements, which were also contemplated during the film. The main village where the research and the film was made is called Novo Futuro (New Future Village), a four day boat ride from the nearest city, Tarauacá.
The Huni Kuin people have been contacted for about a century and have gone through various phases of suffering, narrowly escaping extinction. Some of them who fled to Peru and to the farthest lands in Acre were capable of maintaining community life and the chain of transmission of ritual knowledge completely interwoven with the rainforest and its wildlife without interruption, while the groups who stayed in Brazil were obliged to live shattered in small settlements, following the logic of rubber extraction, recently recovering from decimation, striving to recover and pass on their diverse knowledge of the forest to future generations so that it will not be lost.
Their culture is guided by its cosmopolitics who comes from their ancestral stories - such as the ancestral boa constrictor that taught the secrets of life in constant balance with other beings; Its artistic practices based on the shamanistic cosmology of the kenes which are the sacred geometry which is performed a graphic design of deep knowledge as a key that opens the way for the understanding of life and visions of ayahuasca combined with traditional songs; And its rituals, especially the nixi pae (ayahuasca) a sacred tea which reveals the mysteries of life, the forest, and each person.
SCREENINGS
The film was recently finished in Feb 2022, now we are looking for distribution partners so we canmake a round on international and national festivals.
Soon we hope the film will be available for public screenings.
For general public, keep updated on screenings and news at the instagram page @eskawatafilm
For press package download the material here.
PRESS KIT
Download the poster bellow and our press kit.
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SUPPORT THE HUNI KUIN
The Huni Kuin are constantly collecting funds
to make their projects happen in order to improve their quality of life.
Recently in Feb 2022 the village we made the film "Novo Futuro"was inundated,
we are collecting funds to help the village and specially for them to build again their prayer house.
Get in touch for more information on current projects at contato@bemteviproducoes.com.br
and/or donate using the button bellow or use the QR code at our PayPal wallet or Crypto Wallet:
PayPal Wallet
Crypto Wallet : ETH
Crypto Wallet : BTC
GET IN TOUCH
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ESKAWATA KAYAWAI
THE SPIRIT OF TRANSFORMATION
THE FILM
From 4 years of research and visits to the Huni Kuin villages of the Humaitá River Indigenous Land (Acre) from the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, this pilgrimage resulted in a feature film that portrays the reconnection of a people to their essence. Eskawatã Kayawai - The spirit of transformation is born.
SYNOPSIS
Recalling the trajectory of periods of slavery and oppression, which led to the loss of their own identity as an indigenous people, the film focus on their cultural and spiritual resumption, shared and narrated by themselves.
A journey into the heart of the Brazilian Amazon that brings a snapshot of the Huni Kuin people (which means true people), their life, their relationship with the forest and all the charm of their culture and spirituality.
A story of resistance and strength that blooms from the Amazon to the world in such moments that we are living in.