As the United States slowly moves away from Christopher Columbus Day and the myth of Thanksgiving, we have an opportunity to learn about the history and contemporary lives of Indigenous people instead. Film and TV have shaped much of our knowledge of Indigenous cultures worldwide. And with the recent popularity of mainstream films like “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Territory” and TV shows like “Reservation Dogs” and “Under the Bridge,” Americans have a renewed interest in understanding Indigenous cultures. Visual Anthropology has a long history of documenting native cultures, but only in the last 50 years have filmmakers from those societies started documenting themselves by developing Fourth Cinema. Fourth cinema is media created by Indigenous people about their lives, often exploring the effects of Columbus and colonialism on their cultures. I recently traveled to Lima, Peru, to work with Indigenous director Alvaro Sarmiento and learn about his films with people in the Andes and Amazon.
Sarmiento began working in documentaries more than 20 years ago in his grandparents’ village near the mountains of Peru. His family is Quechua, but he learned about documentaries in Lima, where he grew up. He and his brother started making films by investigating the lead-contaminated water plaguing their village. Soon after, they began their company, HDPeru, which was dedicated to documenting Indigenous cultural dances and traditions. Their short films detail the injustices Indigenous communities face in Peru. Later, they explored historical and political issues affecting countries in the region, such as the Amazon, Brazil, and Ecuador, in feature films.
The effects of Christopher Columbus are still felt by Indigenous cultures to this day, who are often marginalized and forced to live between traditional territory and modern urban living. “Indigenous people still face a lot of discrimination in day-to-day life,” Alvaro mentions as we search through books in downtown Lima. “People don’t always recognize us or see us as a part of Peruvian society.”
Alvaro’s work is not just to document Indigenous people’s problems but to research and better understand the history that led to their current conditions. He seeks to capture the beauty of the environment and the genuine moments between his subjects, which are rarely seen, just as much as the tragedy that unfolds before us. His work is influenced by experimental filmmakers such as Agnes Varda and Peter Greenaway. By incorporating narrative film techniques and reenactment, he can film private or intimate moments we may not otherwise see. Educational shows such as “Disappearing World” and “Nova” observed native people with only an outsider’s understanding of what they did or why. The work of Indigenous filmmakers like Alvaro challenges long-standing stereotypes with an insider’s knowledge of cultural practices.
“It’s not always easy to find funding for projects about Indigenous issues, and we don’t always have as much as we need,” he says as we walk down the street with the books we collected. The sun has set, but downtown remains bright with lights. Although Peru offers public funding, it is highly competitive, and international partnerships and award funding are essential to completing a project. Much like American filmmaking, it can be all about who you know. “Finding reliable crew in remote areas like the Amazon can be challenging,” he says. “But we build partnerships with other local filmmakers to produce films.”
He continues at his office, “If anthropologists like you still want to document native cultures, they should work with Indigenous filmmakers and follow their lead.” His next film looks at the impact of rubber exploitation on the Indigenous people of Peru and Ecuador.
With films like “Jazzy” (a spin-off of “The Unknown Country”) premiering at Tribeca, and the documentary “Sugarcane” about a Canadian boarding school where Indigenous children were abused and murdered receiving a theatrical release, or “Lakota Nation vs. The United States,” about the native movement to take the land back being available on VOD, 2024 could be a groundbreaking year for Indigenous filmmakers.
Ife Olatunji is a practicing visual anthropologist specializing in observational cinema and longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork. As an Anthropologist, Ife has conducted comparative observational fieldwork in Brazil, Ghana, Dominican Republic, India, and most recently Nigeria.