We are launching this campaign at a crucial time for the indigenous communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, many of which are facing considerable challenges in maintaining their cultures, environment and way of life.
Your support will be vital in taking the documentary through editing & post-production, getting it screened as widely as possible and making the maximum possible impact.
“We're not talking about the conservation of our territory or this forest alone, we're talking about the conservation of the planet!¨
-Interview with Patricia Gualinga, Comunidad de Sarayaku
The Documentary
The Last Guardians is a feature-length documentary filmed alongside the Sapara and Kichwa communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon aiming to deliver their urgent and thought-provoking messages to the international community.
These neighboring communities are united in their common struggle to protect their natural environment in the face of pressure from the imminent entry of oil companies onto their territory following the auctioning off of blocks 79 and 83 to Andes Petroleum in January of this year. As seen in other parts of the Amazon, the entry of oil companies would have a significant impact on the natural environment on which these communities rely.
They are also confronting the forces of globalization which threaten to erode their culture and way of life, which in the case of Sapara has left the nation facing huge uncertainties as to whether their culture and language will survive.
Through a series of in-depth interviews with a range of community members, including spiritual and political leaders, we have captured a detailed representation of the current situation faced by these communities, featuring their inspirational resistance, wide-ranging philosophy and the central role indigenous woman are playing at the forefront of the struggle. This interview footage will be interweaved with a range of general community activity footage and scenes from daily life in these jungle communities to give a detailed insight into their lives.
The warmth and openness shown to us by the Kichwa and Sapara peoples during our time filming there also facilitated an exploration of the importance of medicinal knowledge and ceremonial practices as well as their unique worldview based on a profound, spiritual connection with nature. Alongside this we also examined the innovative environmental proposals that have been developed and presented by community members in international forums such as COP21 in Paris aiming to protect the Amazon forest not simply for themselves but for the whole of the planet.
Contrary to the widely held misconception of indigenous peoples living remotely and disconnected from global issues, these communities have a strong recognition and appreciation of the connection between peoples and continents as well as the drastic impacts of global warming and the pressing need for rapid change.
Through an examination of these themes the film will seek to inform audiences of their vision for the future, with the intention being for the international community to learn both practically and philosophically from the Sapara and Kichwa communities in its attempt to confront global environmental degradation and the threat of climate change, whilst also building awareness to support them in their current struggle to protect their territorial integrity and culture.
The journey so far
The documentary was born out of Adam and Joe's shared and active interest in the social, political and economic issues facing under-represented indigenous peoples in so many parts of the world. The decision to focus on the indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon was made in 2015 as we grew increasingly conscious of the gravity and urgency of the pressures faced by these communities and the lack of accurate exposure of these issues.
Since this point, the project has gone through the pre-production stage which involved arranging all the logistics to work effectively on the ground in Eastern Ecuador for a period of months, bringing Emilio on board as a third cameraman and the development of a relationship of trust with the Sapara and Kichwa of Sarayaku. This has been a continuous process aided by organisations such as Pachamama Alliance and Amazon Watch who helped us to connect with these communities who invited us into their families and lives so warmly.
We then spent a number of weeks filming in the jungle communities of the Sapara and Kichwa of Sarayaku, fully immersing ourselves in their lives before heading north-east to the border town of Nueva Loja and surrounding areas where we explored the environmental and social implications of oil extraction.
Nueva Loja and its deforested surroundings provided the contrast point to the preserved forest and the sustainable ways of life we documented in the jungle communities, whilst also illustrating the stark dangers of pursuing oil extraction as we were confronted with accounts of environmental contamination which has led to grave and widespread health problems.
Meeting with a committee of local people affected by contamination and interviewing the President of the ´Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia´, we heard testimonials that affirmed the importance of the community resistance we had documented in the forest and a shared desire to keep the preserved rainforest intact and free from extractive industries.
The impact of your support
Your support will be instrumental in getting the documentary made in a time frame that respects the urgency of the situation in the communities. It will play an invaluable role in the journey of the film and its mission to raise awareness of the issues faced by indigenous communities and effect real change!
By supporting this film you will be contributing to raising awareness around these key issues concerning indigenous rights in the Ecuadorian Amazon and, more broadly, the protection of the Amazon rainforest as a whole for which indigenous peoples are integral.
Your support will assist with current efforts to resist the imminent entry of oil companies which threaten the future existence of many indigenous Amazonian communities whilst also contributing to a longer term educational process seeking to inform international audiences about the huge value of these peoples and the vast range of knowledge and wisdom they can offer the world, especially in the areas of environmental protection and sustainable living.
We are really grateful for your support! If you can't contribute with funds you can still help by sharing our indiegogo page on social media and with people who you think might be interested as we try to spread the word as widely as possible.
You can find more information on our website and by following us on twitter and facebook-
https://www.lastguardiansfilm.com/
https://twitter.com/IndigAmazonFilm
https://www.facebook.com/lastguardiansfilm/
Where your money goes
To date the documentary has been almost entirely self-funded which has taken it through the pre-production and production stages.
We have personally invested over $9,000 in the project with a further $2,500 coming from a successful crowdfunding campaign ran in 2015 which was a massive help in getting things off the ground.
Having reached the end of our budget we now need further funding to successfully complete the editing, post-production and to embark on distribution of the film. Below is a breakdown of the projected costs of taking the film through post-production and distribution:
Post-production- $6,500
- 4 weeks with an editor to produce a rough and fine cut- $4,500
- 2 weeks to complete the color correction and audio mixing - $2,000
This work will be carried out between studios in Barcelona & London. We aim to bring on board an editor with experience in making documentaries in a similar area with whom we will craft a cohesive and powerful piece.
Distribution - $3,500
- Budget for film festival entries
We already have screenings at two film festivals confirmed, namely the Salt Spring documentary film festival in Canada and the Totnes Film Festival in the UK. We plan to screen at film festivals as extensively as possible including, FICMA (the Barcelona International Environmental Film Festival), Sheffield DocFest, BFI London Film festival and others.
- Budget for film screenings in Europe, North & South America
We plan to screen the film in cinemas and local communities throughout Europe where we are based, with considerable potential in cities such as London, Barcelona, Brussels, Oslo, Amsterdam and Berlin where we have established networks.
In North America we plan to work in conjunction with key environmental advocacy organisations to screen the film within their extensive networks with the potential for screenings with community members featured in the film in attendance.
We also want to screen the film within Amazonian communities and throughout Ecuador. We view the film as a means to raise awareness and build unity between indigenous and non-indigenous Ecuadorians as well as to help shape public opinion country-wide, as it is often manipulated by the government or pro-extraction interest groups who have considerable control over the media in Ecuador.
- Budget for academic / educational distribution in universities and colleges in the UK, Europe and the USA
As both a campaigning and educational piece, we plan for the documentary to be shown in educational institutions internationally to inform both academics working in policy advisory roles and students who will go on to hold positions of influence in years to come.
Who are we
Joe & Adam are both humanities graduates of the University of Sheffield with varying specialisms in the fields of indigenous rights and the politics of international development with time spent by Joe in 2014 working on an indigenous seed-sovereignty project in India and by Adam in the Ecuadorian Amazon working on educational programmes in 2015. We have now been collaborating on this film project for the past year and a half.
The third team member is Emilio Mula, originally from Spain but now residing in the U.K. He joined us as an additional cameraman during our time filming on the ground in Ecuador. Emilio is a freelance filmmaker who has worked on a variety of projects over the years including both feature-length documentaries and short films.
For any enquiries related to the project or about helping to distribute the campaign feel free to contact us on: perspectivas.indigenas@gmail.com
*Please note- all contributions will go directly towards funding the production and distribution of this film. Despite the fundraising currency being in dollars it is fine to give in other currencies which will then be converted to dollars by the site. We have maintained our independence throughout the project and as a result have full ownership of rights.