Indigenous Wisdom

Indigenous Wisdom

Discover the importance of conservation and indigenous knowledge in regeneration efforts, exploring the intrinsic relationship of ecosystems and human development.

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Indigenous Wisdom
  • Empowerment In Action: The Eco Spanish School Story

    This documentary will take you on an inspiring journey through the lives of Maria and Benedicto, two extraordinary individuals whose determination, resilience, and dedication have turned adversity into opportunity. Their Eco Spanish School, once a humble dream, has blossomed into a thriving succe...

  • Taking Flight

    In an area where traditional education fails students, one Mayan woman starts her own school in order to rebuild her community from the ground up. Through her integral education, which includes meals for students and workshops for their parents, Ingrid Villaseñor strengthens her home of Panajache...

  • They Carry Us With Them: Richard Silliboy

    This film profiles Richard Silliboy, a tribal elder and vice chief of the Aroostook Band of Mi’kmaqs, and a black ash basketmaker. As he weaves a potato basket at his home in Littleton, Maine, Richard contemplates the arrival of the emerald ash borer and the tenuous future of this ancient art.

    D...

  • Recording Kawaiisu

    Following a century of loss, the Kawaiisu people of Central California have held on to their language, one of the few aspects of their culture that remain intact. Now, with only two fluent speakers remaining, Julie Girado Turner has spent the last 16 years documenting the language that lives with...

  • Tashi and The Monk

    On a remote mountaintop a brave social experiment is taking place. Former Buddhist monk Lobsang was trained under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has created a unique community in the foothills of the Himalayas which rescues orphaned and neglected children. Five-year-old Tashi is ...

  • Forest, Indigenous People, and Industry

    Indonesia has the largest tropical rain forest on Earth. Therefore, Indonesia has long been known as the ‘lungs’ of the world. Forests has an important role in maintaining climate balance. But for indigenous peoples in Tanah Papua and the Maluku Islands, forests are not only as ‘lungs’. For them,...

  • Oil On Their Hands

    For almost half a century, Quechua, Achuar, and Kichwa communities in Northern Peruvian have suffered extreme negative environmental, health, cultural, social, and economic impacts as a result of the operations of the oil companies, Occidental Petroleum (1971-2000) and subsequently Pluspetrol (20...

  • Yukon Kings

    Set in the remote Alaskan Yukon Delta, Yukon Kings follows Yup'ik fisherman Ray Waska as he teaches his grandkids how to fish during the summer salmon run. With environmental and cultural forces threatening their subsistence way of life, Ray holds onto the hope that his grandsons will one day pas...

  • Voices from The Sea

    In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there's an island whose inhabitants subsistence depends on the sea. There has been an alarming decline of endemic species in their waters because of overfishing by international factory ships, as well as damaging plastic these same ships discard on their shores...

  • Protecting Panama

    Guna communities have long been recognized for protecting the forests along their coastline; despite significant threats from farming and industrial logging, they are proven protectors of their ancestral forests.

    Today they face uncertainty over the sea that surrounds their island homes. Increas...

  • Pana-Pana

    On the 12th September 2013 the Honduran government granted almost 7% of its territory to the indigenous Miskito people who have lived traditionally on this land for centuries. We follow the leadership of the indigenous organization, MASTA, as they speak to their elders and explore solutions to be...

  • Owners of the Forest

    A new model of conservation is emerging. It is one that values the role of local communities and reconciles protecting biodiversity with the use and management of resources. In the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, communities play a vital role in conservation efforts and several ...

  • Our Story, Your Story

    Clowns Without Borders South Africa (www.cwbsa.org) presents OUR STORY YOUR STORY – an intergenerational project connecting elders and youth through autobiographical storytelling. Storytelling has immense power to build connections between individuals, between generations, and between the past an...

  • My Beautiful Nicaragua

    12-year-old Edelsin Linette Mendez illuminates the consequences of climate change on the coffee market, her community’s traditional source of livelihood and Nicaragua’s primary agricultural product.

    Directors: Edelsin Linette Mendez
    Producers: Joyce Chopra, Sammy Chadwick, Holly Carter
    2016 | 2...

  • Marie's Dictionary

    This short documentary tells the story of Marie Wilcox, the last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language and the dictionary she created in an effort to keep her language alive.

    Director: Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee
    2014 | 10 min
    Canada

  • Hope

    The indigenous people of Sungai Utik, a Dayak Iban community in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, have maintained a strong traditional connection to their forests despite continuous pressure from logging and palm oil companies intent on taking their land. Their forests remain intact and their tradition...

  • Dayaks and Drones

    Even a well-managed, recognised forest faces constant challenges but innovative drone GPS technology, cooperative campaigning, local government support and eco-tourism are helping the Setulang people thrive. They have shown that community rights, the environment and development go hand in hand.

    ...

  • Brazil's Warrior Women

    The humble babassu palm provides a livelihood for communities of women across North Eastern Brazil. Bread, charcoal, oil and soap are produced from the nut and husk; the surplus is sold on. But production has not always been so peaceful. Babassu: Brazil’s Warrior Women tells the story of the hard...

  • Beyond the Pipeline

    UN Special Rapporteur of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples meets the Standing Rock Sioux leadership and community in March 2017 after months of protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

    On the 10th anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the campaign has come to repr...

  • A Thousand Suns

    A Thousand Suns tells the story of the Gamo Highlands of the African Rift Valley and the unique worldview held by the people of the region. This isolated area has remained remarkably intact both biologically and culturally. It is one of the most densely populated rural regions of Africa yet its p...