WATERS OF PASTAZA

Children will show us the way! The authentic filming location is Suwa, an 80-strong community in the Amazon of Ecuador, where Portuguese filmmaker Ines T Alves herself lived for two months and learned how to survive in its territory, thanks to the children who helped her. Now the protagonists of her documentary, their daily lives, independence, close connection to nature as well as their handling of new technologies mark the narrative. The film observes and accompanies, inviting us to dive into a rainforest without a carbon footprint.

WATERS OF PASTAZA
Inês T Alves
P 2022, 72 min, OmeU
16.10.2022, 17:15

Jury statement Christian Berger

Ines T Alves says in an interview…about her film “Waters of Pastaza”: These children educate us. They make us confront the loss of knowledge and reflect on our childhood. To what extent are we infantilizing children with such protectionist parenting? So in this film, these children are not the “others,” but they are “us.“ She also notes that this film was made with a simple little camera and a microphone. With this, she succeeds in creating very “straight” images and situations. With this immediacy she takes the content more important as the technique: the content is determining (shapes and makes the film) the technique has to follow. And I would like to add – her quality also lies in your ability to empathize with her focused attention of her sight on the children and what they are doing. I would not like to leave your film unmentioned in any case.

Jury statement Nature doc

“The film has a strong ‘untold’ story that is yet giving the viewers the freedom to choose their way to interpret it and focus on the many social and environmental aspects depicted in the film. This, in fact, makes the viewer’s interaction with the film even more private and immersive. The interaction of youth and children with nature and the wilderness is an important topic and the director succeeded to present the different aspects to it, especially highlighting the life in remote communities. The idea along with technical nuances are strong.”