Documentary: Hope & Struggle in the Ecuadorian Chocó Rainforest

History

This project is based on a first-time film school and audio-visual collaboration between ancestral communities in the lowland jungles on both sides of the Andes of Ecuador: the western Coastal Chocó rainforest and the eastern Amazon rainforest.

Principal Product: 1) 50-minute documentary, see trailer above.

Time Period of Phase 3 of Project: Post-production. Estimated 3 months. (Phases 1 and 2—Film Schools and Environmental Context Footage—already complete.)

principle objective of the documentary

Hope and Struggle in the Ecuadorian Chocó Rainforest interweaves the stories of two communities—the Afro-descendant community of La Chiquita and the Indigenous Awá community of Guádualito—who are protecting the last remaining stands of the lowland Chocó jungle (Cantón San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas Province) along the Ecuadorian-Colombian border and the Pacific Ocean. 

THEY COME TOGETHER FOR THE WATER.

In a context suffering the reverberating effects of Plan Colombia, the two Black and Indigenous communities lack drinking water because their shared natural watershed, the Santiago-Cayapas River, is contaminated by large oil palm plantations. 

The documentary’s vision emerges from an Amazon-Chocó film school experience that took place in 2016-2018 in communities considered "disposable", but who resist and fight for their survival. 

The Amazon-Chocó film school and documentary is directed by Eriberto Gaulinga—Indigenous Kichwa film director and leader of Selvas Producciones (Forest Productions) from Sarayaku (a community from the Ecuadorian Amazon). A second film school was taught online in 2021 during Covid by Quito-based Pocho Alvarez, one of the most well-known social documentary film makers in Ecuador, who is also Eriberto’s mentor. 

Nevertheless, the people of San Lorenzo show the world a story of struggle and hope for two decades. La Chiquita and Guadualito's legal processes towards justice began in 2002. In July 2010, they filed the first constitutional civil lawsuit for Nature's rights in the world. Finally, in January 2017, the Provincial Court of Emeralds of Ecuador issued a decision in favor of the communities. 

Now the two communities are still struggling to apply the judge's decisions. The documentary serves to raise public opinion and support for the application of the constitutional laws of Ecuador and to demand justice in a place that’s historically and currently abandoned by the state, and thus, left subject to social and ecological violence.

LA CHIQUITA AND GUADUALITO SEEK JUSTICE AND RESPECT FOR 

THEIR TERRITORIES,

THEIR CULTURES,

AND THE RIGHTS OF THE FORESTS AND RIVERS.

THEY ARE THE VOICES FOR THE RIGHTS OF PACHAMAMA (MOTHER NATURE).

projected total budget

The documentary, so far, has been funded through generous contributions from diverse organizations. The Cultural Conservancy has provided $19,000, which made possible 33 hours of footage (interviews, film school footage, and drone shots). Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network have provided $5000 grants each. Lush Charity Pot Grant has provided $15,000, and just recently the Rex Foundation provided $5000. In total, they have contributed $49,000. 

To complete the documentary in Spanish with English and French subtitles, we need to close the gap of $26,903. 

Telling this story is more urgent than ever due to COVID-19 compounding the negative effects of their isolation, increasing irregular armed group violence, and the cumulative contamination that continues despite all the existing legal procedures. 

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Documentary production team

Director, Script, and Camera

Eriberto Gualing Montavo, Founder and Director of Selvas Producciones [Forest Productions]

Eriberto Gualinga YouTube Page

Selvas Producciones Facebook Page

Co-producer

Julianne (Juli) Hazlewood, Ph.D. in Geography

Co-founder and Executive Director of Roots & Routes Intercultural Collaborations

 Editor

Sergio Venturini

Assistant to Director (Second Camara, Sound and Lighting)

Valerio Santi, Selvas Producciones

Additional Cameras

Youth of La Chiquita and Guadualito who attended Amazon-Chocó and Online Film Schools

Post-production Coordinators

Lucía Galarza Suárez and Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez, Atarraya

For more information, please contact Film Producer, Juli Hazlewood at juli@rootsroutes.org

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