Sebastian and Pastora live in a Shuar village in the Upper Amazonia of Ecuador. Sebastian is not only a respected healer, but also a medicinal botanist who experiments with unknown plants he encounters in the forest. His unique practice seeks to cultivate new knowledge, reconnecting him with his ancestors. Pastora is one of the rare female leaders in Amazonia, who struggles to negotiate with local authorities for her community. With powerful plants such as ayahuasca, they revive and energise their perceptions of the future. These plants allow them to acquire power and a faith to cope with the obstacles they now face, given that their lives have been irreversibly affected by the modern state system. The alert eyes of the filmmaker, embodied in the drifting camera, creates a distinctive field of personal story-telling, inviting the viewers into the unique sensory experience of the life in Amazonia, where truths, meanings and images flow and take unpredictable shapes.

Kanarta: Alive in Dreams is a hybrid documentary film that draws inspirations from cinéma-vérité, direct cinema, road movie and video art, while solidly based on long-term ethnographic research.

INFO

Year & Production: 2020, United Kingdom & Japan
Running Time: 121 mins
Screening Format: DCP
Dialogue Languages: Shuar & Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese & Japanese
Location: Ecuador

Director: Akimi Ota
Cinematography, Sound & Editing: Akimi Ota
Sound Design: Martin Salomonsen
Colour Grading: Aline Biz
Featuring: Sebastian Tsamarain & Pastora Tanchima
In Collaboration With: Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology

Travel Partner: Suritiak Naichap
Language Assistant: Georgina Hinojosa, Suritiak Naichap & Atilio Nuningo
Editing Consultant: Angela Torresan
Subtitles: Akimi Ota, Ana Edwards, Anthony Mui, Tom Boyd, Alex Pegge, Gracia Imberton & Diego Angelo Silveira
Supported By: Wenner-Gren Foundation, JASSO, HISF & University of Manchester
Contact: [email protected]

Selected Awards:
Excellence in Cultural Documentary, Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan
Best Documentary Film, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature, Beyond Earth Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature, New York Movie Awards
Best Documentary Feature, Florence Film Awards
Best Student / First-Time Director, Asian Cinematography Awards
Best Student Film, International Festival of Ethnological Film