Who we are
A new pandemic is spreading out of control in the Amazon forest. Little is known about how the indigenous communities survived Covid 19 and nothing has been heard of the cosmological battle that their shamans fought. This is the story of Mama Celia and José Narvaez, sages of the Amazonian Kichwa people who struggle to maintain the balance, and at all costs, protect the forest that holds the cure.
Meet the team behind the story
Director and Scriptwriter: Juan Francisco Valdez
Bachelor in Ethnology, Juan specialized with a Master’s degree in Documentary and Visual Anthropology in the university of Paris, making his first long documentary
”Panelita, miel del campo” in 2014. Taught three years at the Communication Department of the Universidad de las Américas in Ecuador, where he directed several documentary films in co-production with public institutions. He currently lives in Barcelona completing his doctoral dissertation in Anthropology and Cinema, with a special emphasis in Amerindian perspectivism and the relations of humans and non-humans.
Co-director and principal researcher : Belén Iturralde
Belén Iturralde studied anthropology and archaeology in Ecuador, there she participated in several research projects with indigenous communities, focusing on the precolumbian past as well as in the present.
She currently lives in Barcelona, where she got a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies and Literature. She focuses her research on oral heritage in the framework of gender studies, feminist and dissidence in Latin America and Europe. Since 2020, she is active in field research on amazonian communities and mildwife traditions.
Co-director in the field: Wayra Samuel Shiguango
Filmmaker of the Kichwa People of Rukullakta in the CONFENIAE’s group ”Lanceros digitales” in Ecuador. Wayra is an indigenous audiovisual producer. He is part of the COICA’s technical communication team in the program: ‘’Numi Restoration Project Guaranteeing Territories of Life”.
Wayra worked as a youth leader with the United Nations Development Program – UNDP.
Producer: Galo Semblantes
Producer and director, Galo is the founder of Non Sequitur Films, a film production company based in Quito, Ecuador.
Galo began his studies in Ecuador where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree. He continued his Master’s degree in film studies in Los Angeles. He worked in films such as ”Qué tan Lejos” , ”Mono con Gallinas”, ”Dance of Insanity” and ”American Dreams”. In 2013 he began his debut feature film ”The Legend of Tayos”, which was released in September 2021.
Cinematographer: Andrés de la Torre
Andres studied filmmaking at the Séptima Ars school in Madrid, specializing in film and digital film lighting. He continued his studies at the School of New Technologies CICE where he completed a Master’s degree in digital photography and image processing. He worked as director of photography in the series ”Yo soy hecho en Ecuador” , ”El Cómic de Lula”, ”Cocinando en los Orígenes” and in the documentaries ”La Clara y Oscura” and ”The Legend of Tayos”.
Sound engineer: Xavier Merino
Graduated in Sound and Acoustics, Xavier is an audio producer and postproducer, music producer and acoustic and sound designer. He is the manager and creator of Sono Estudio and has worked with production companies such as Urbano Films, OromarTv, RTU Noticias, Radio Fm Mundo, CableVisión, Homodemens Films. He has also worked in sound design and music for advertising, animation films and documentaries.
Postproduction and color grading: Oscar Díaz
Based in Barcelona, Oscar is an audiovisual creator, cinematographer, colorist and photographer, mainly interested in social documentaries and independent cinema. He obtained a degree in Film and Animation at SAE Institute and since 2020 has worked as a producer and director in music videos, fashion films, corporate, branded content both as a camera operator and video editor with a solid experience in color grading. He is currently in development of his feature documentary film.
Discover the sages
Mama Celia
Spiritual leader and midwife of the Kichwa people of Rukullakta, is one of the main founders of the traditional birth medical center AMUPAKIN in the province of Napo.
José Narváez
Wise man and leader of Sachayuyay, forest in the process of restoration of the community of Mushullakta. After the Covid-19 pandemic, through the knowledge received by his father , who was also a yachak, he was able to cure his community with medicinal plants.
Maximiliano Shiguango
Known as Urku yachak (shaman) of the Kichwa people of Rukullakta. His ceremonial house is next to his chakra (orchard), where he grows his medicinal plants.
Mayra Shiguango
Owner of “Sachayuyay” (Bosque Sabio) in the community of Mulllulalkta. Mayra carries out the project of diversification of farms, in which ancestral knowledge is reused to restore the Amazonian forests in symbiosis with the orchard crops.
Kuri Pakcha Narvaez
Daughter of José and Mayra. She has learned from her parents the traditional knowledge of their culture in medicinal and edible plants. She is an ornithologist by passion and will be the one to protect the “Sachayuyay” for the next generations.
How was this project born?
Nothing has been heard about the impact of Covid 19 on the Amazonian communities and how, being isolated, they had to face the aggressive increase of mortality and the fast spread of the virus.
Through the voice of the sage or “Yachaks” of the Kichwa people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, this documentary tells a different story about the pandemic and how, through their wisdom and strength, they keep the memory of the powerful shamans of the Amazon forest alive in alliance with the spirits of nature.
The message of the sages and the lessons learned by them, are shown by their concrete actions to fight global problems, such as the impact of climate warming and the destruction of areas of high biodiversity.
| Name | The Sages of the Amazon Forest |
| GENRE | Documentary Ethnographic / Social / Environmental |
| COUNTRY | Ecuador |
| DURATION | 100 minutes |
| FORMAT | Digital 4K / COLOR |
| LANGUAGES | Kichwa / Spanish |
| DIRECTORS | Juan Francisco Valdez Belén Iturralde Wayra Samuel Shiguango |
| ASSOCIATE PRODUCER | Galo Semblantes |
| PRODUCTION COMPANY | Non-Sequitur Films (Ecuador) |
| AWARDS | 2022 - Best Documentary Project Cerdanya Film Festival |
Our motivation
From the beginning, we knew that the origin of the problems came from the human relationship with the natural environment, since the evident climate crisis and the spread of diseases are convergent phenomena. Within the communities this concept is present, and this has permitted them to face, once again, epidemics coming from the outside, leading us to rethink our actions towards nature and the world.
Thus we begin to search for a cinematographic dialogue with the traditional wise men of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The wisdom and power of the “Yachaks” are the result of a lifetime experience; their advanced age makes them vulnerable, especially in the context of pandemics.
A priority for us was to narrate their life history of material and spiritual struggle, as it allows us to build and preserve libraries of wisdom from the last holders of such knowledge. There is an urgent need to launch a project that seeks to rescue the voices of the ”Sages of the Amazon Forest”.
Production plan
Posters
Gallery
