Sacha Runa: Spirits of the Rainforest
1996 · 60m · Documentary
A portrait of Peruvian curandero Agustin Rivas-Vazques, revealed primarily through stationary-camera interviews.
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The Amazon Head Hunters
1931 · ★ 8
It is thanks to this film that the Marquis gained notoriety with a wider audience. The film is the result of film footage shot between May 1926 and June 1930 in several South American countries. Departing from Guayaquil, he first went to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. Upon returning to the capital of Ecuador, chance brought him to the Ocaina Indians, the Boro, the Napo, the Jivaro and the Piro. He explored the Incan mines of Machu Picchu, discovered only a few years prior, and ended his journey on the famed Guano islands. The musical score, inspired by traditional Indian music, was created by Maurice Jaubert.
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Storm in the Andes
2015 · ★ 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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Wild Brazil
2014 · ★ 7.2
Go up-river and deep into the jungle far from Brazil's cities and stadiums, where families of giant otters, tufted capuchin monkeys and mischievous coati (South American raccoon cousins) rally their wits to survive in a breathtakingly beautiful yet dangerous land.
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Ruta del Jaca
2009 · ★ 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.
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Living with Spirits: 10 Days in the Jungle with Ayahuasca
2013
Michael Wiese documents his 10-day ayahuasca retreat at a lodge in the Peruvian Amazon.
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2018
Shipibo healer Ricardo Amaringo describes how he prepares, teaches, and shares the plant medicine ayahuasca. Olivia and Julian Arévalo sing examples of icaros (healing songs) in the Shipibo language.
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Machu Picchu Decoded
2010 · ★ 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.
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Mass-market retailing: The end of a system?
2021 · ★ 7
The supermarket chains used to seem unbeatable, capturing the lion’s share of the grocery market. But for some years now they have been in crisis. In the wake of a fierce price war, retailers are resorting to increasingly aggressive commercial negotiation methods at the expense of suppliers, farmers and producers. Further competition is coming from the tech giants as Amazon and Alibaba invest in the food industry. What are the implications of all these changes on working conditions, the quality of our food and the future of our planet?
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The Labyrinth
2018 · ★ 5
A voyage into the labyrinthic memories of a Uitoto man, who worked for the drug Lords in the Colombian Amazon back in the 80s. Following his path between the forest and the ruin of a Narco´s mansion imitating the Carrington mansion in the soap opera Dynasty, the film unfolds the hallucinatory account of a near-death experience.
More info →Heaven 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 · ★ 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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Metamorphosis
2009
Hamilton Souther is the founder of Blue Morpho Tours, a company that caters to ayahuasca tourists in the Peruvian Amazon. Souther talks about the events that led him to Amazonian shamanism. Five first-time ayahuasca drinkers on a nine-day retreat with Blue Morpho relate their experiences.
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