In March 2004, one of the world’s last voluntarily isolated groups of hunter-gatherers walk out of the forest in northern Paraguay, fleeing ranchers’ bulldozers. Forming a new village with more settled relatives, they confront the complexities of learning how to survive in a rapidly changing world. This documentary provides an intimate portrait of a divided community and their efforts to chart a future in a context shaped by deforestation, NGO activity, anthropologists and evangelical Christianity. This reflexive video uses the experiences and confusions of a process that remains ultimately opaque to put a human face to questions about “contact,” “indigeneity” and the way certain ideas of “modernity” continue to be presented as the only option for Native peoples in the Gran Chaco and beyond.

VIEW SHORT VIDEO CLIP (click on your player speed):      56k   300k   700k        56k   300k   700k

Length: 47 min. Country: USA Language: Spanish, Ayoreo, English subtitles Producer: Lucas Bessire Producer website: N/A Distributor: Documentary Educational Resources Distributor Web site: www.der.org

Festival Screenings and Awards: