Guardians of Liberty
Guardians of Liberty (Los Guardianes de la Libertad) is an audiovisual documentary project in which political leaders, herbalists, medicine men and healers of both sexes from one of the most traditional indigenous communities of the central Amazon region of Colombia speak of their sophisticated system of environmental management, which has been conserved for more than 11,000 years.
Documentary and animation feature film (in progress)
90′
Synopsis
The indigenous cultures of the Colombian Amazon have hundreds of sacred sites. They are places where special events have happened, where the gods have been born or sown crops or left important teachings. At the same time, they are places which are very important for the ecological web of the region, critical nodes for maintaining the environmental balance of the territory. One of the most sacred places for the cultures of the Colombian Amazon is called La Libertad (Liberty) and it is endangered: a Canadian mining company wants to explore for gold there. To prevent this happening, the local communities have mobilized themselves to turn this part of their territory into a natural park. It is a complicated struggle, where some things may be won and others lost but what is ultimately at stake is the world itself or the possibility of living in harmony with it. And the guardians of la Libertad are doing what they can to win.
Treatment
The documentary mixes shots taken in the zone of landscapes, river journeys and the payés (spiritual leaders of the tribes) with animations which illustrate and explain their cosmology and view of the world. Beyond being an account of these sacred places or a denunciation of the indiscriminate exploitation of the Amazon, the documentary seeks to show that the notion of the sacred among the peoples of the Amazon is closely linked to their way of life and their equilibrium with the nature of which they are part. All this is being threatened, partly because other human groups do not share this strong identification with their natural surroundings. The contrast between two visions of the world is clearly seen in La Libertad, one of these sacred places, a key to the history of these nations and the environmental well-being of their region, which is in danger of being razed by a mining company. Here we may see, in a particular dramatic form, what happens when two radically different ways of looking at the world clash.
Project developed by 4direcciones, and The GAIA Amazonas Foundation