Empire in the Sun
β 5.8 Β· 1956 Β· 85m Β· Documentary
Colorful widescreen travelogue along the Amazon River jungle of Peru, featuring an indigenous village carnival and a snake dance.
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Storm in the Andes
2015 Β· β 7
Josephine has all her life been told that her Peruvian aunt Augusta died in an armed struggle for the rights of the poor. As an adult Josefin decides to find out the truth about the legendary Augusta.
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Ruta del Jaca
2009 Β· β 5.7
In the late 1980's, during Peru's bloody internal conflict, an American couple traveled through the countryside looking for alternative healers to treat the woman's terminal illness. On that fateful trip, they vanished completely. At the time, local authorities claimed they had been kidnapped and killed by communist insurgents of the Shining Path movement. 20 years later, their son retraces their steps in an intriguing and sometime bizarre trip to visit Shamans in Andean remote villages as well as deep in the Amazon jungle. Matt is looking for people that might have known his parents, and undergoes some of the same treatments his mother had received. Ruta del Jaca is a kaleidoscopic film that blurs the distinction between documentary and fiction. The spectacular beauty of the Peruvian countryside is splashed throughout the feature. A special role is reserved for the immensely popular "Folklor" singer Sonia Morales.
More info βSacha Runa: Spirits of the Rainforest
1996
A portrait of Peruvian curandero Agustin Rivas-Vazques, revealed primarily through stationary-camera interviews.
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2018
Shipibo healer Ricardo Amaringo describes how he prepares, teaches, and shares the plant medicine ayahuasca. Olivia and Julian ArΓ©valo sing examples of icaros (healing songs) in the Shipibo language.
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Machu Picchu Decoded
2010 Β· β 6.7
Deep in the Andean mountains lays a mysterious ruin named Machu Picchu. For 400 years it sat abandoned on its misty cliff, the quintessential lost city in the jungle. Rediscovered in 1911, it contained no written records or carvings, nothing that could shed light on its history. For a century since, it has defied the endless scores of visitors and scientists who attempted to understand its purpose. Who were the mysterious people who built it and why did they build it here? Today an international team of archeologists, engineers and scientists are finally piecing together the clues. Together they are discovering astonishing new burials, revealing the intricacies of its ingenious engineering and finally decoding the secrets of Machu Picchu.
More info βHeaven Earth
2008
This documentary examines ayahuasca shamanism near Iquitos (a metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon), and the tourism it has attracted. The filmmakers talk with two ayahuasqueros, Percy Garcia and Ron Wheelock, as well as ayuahuasca tourists and local people connected with the ayahuasca industry.
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Nasca Lines Decoded
2010 Β· β 6
They are striking works of art by any standard: but what purpose did they serve? Some of the theories put forward suggest that the lines were ancient running tracks, runways for aliens, and even a giant astronomical calculator. But after decades of misunderstanding, modern archaeology may finally have an answer to the puzzle of the Nasca lines.
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The Amateur Circus
2025
Tucked away in northern Indiana, the city of Peru, Indiana is the circus capitol of the world. Thousands of visitors and townspeople come to this town for two weeks to see the annual amateur circus. Performed by only the local kids, fueled with the rich history and culture of the circus in Peru, this show is anything but amateur.
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El cargador
1974
Dramatic testimony of Gregorio Condori Mamani, who works as a porter in Cusco, Peru. Despite the huge effort they make everyday for a few coins, porters fall and find death in the streets.
More info βCamino, barbarie
2005 Β· β 8
An experimental documentary short about the terrorism in Peru in 1986. Using archive footage, the director deconstructs the massacre in a successive historical actions choreography and an atmospheric sound mix alternating the imminence of both the massacre and the oblivion.
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Soldiers of the Vine
2016 Β· β 8
After years of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, six US veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan travel to Peru on a quest for healing. With the help and guidance of three brothers who are traditional healers, they take ayahuasca and other plant medicines during a 10-day retreat in the Amazon rainforest.
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Paths of liberation
1985
Documentary presenting the theory and application of the Theology of Liberation via interviews to priests from humble parishes in the slums of Lima. A fruitful labor of a Catholic Church sector committed to address social issues.
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