Sapara Clothing: A Tradition in Danger

Roupas tradicionais da Amazônia ameaçadas

Location

Ecuador

Lançado

February 2019

Duração

10:09

Tags

Culture
Indigenous Made Film
Indigenous Solutions
Uncategorized
youth

For centuries, the Sapara people of the Ecuadorian Amazon made their clothes from the resistant and natural fabric that the forest grows for them. As people have become more used to commercial clothing, this tradition has been increasingly neglected.

By stripping the bark from the tree and beating it to soften the fibres, they tame the hard cortex of the llanchama tree and transform it into a textile material. It seems simple but requires a team of people and several days of work to develop this product that is currently undervalued in the market.

Arturo Santi from the Jandiayaku community, inheritor of this millenary knowledge, passes it on to young people so that they can preserve this ancient technique that may offer a sustainable alternative for the future and exemplifies their community’s historic and deep connection to their forest home.

Producers

Profile

TAWNA Equador

Somos o TAWNA, um grupo nascido no coração da Amazônia equatoriana com o sonho de transformar e levar com nosso remo a mensagem de t...
Profile

Samantha Castro Equador

Mulher, andarilha, jornalista independente, cineasta autodidata, ativista em defesa da vida da Pachamama. “Acredito na comunicação ...
Profile

Lenin Montahuano (Yanda Twaru) Equador

Yanda nasceu na comunidade de Llanchama Cocha, localizada na província de Pastaza, no coração da Amazônia equatoriana, e vive atua...

Related films

Film

6:41 mins

Voices of Amerikua: Moretecocha, Ecuador Ecuadorian community fight off oil threats

The community of Morete Cocha is located in the region of Pastaza Province in the Amazon region of Ecuador. Like many other communities Morete Cocha is under threat by interest of oil companies seeking to exploit crude in the communities land. This is the story of community’s search for environmental and cultural preservation. The phrase […]

ActivismUncategorizedPartner film
Film

11:46 mins

Kofan, the people Grassroots indigenous activism in Ecuador

Emergildo Criollo (Kofan nation) was just a child when the oil company Texaco arrived by helicopter in his peoples’ ancestral territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The ensuing decades of oil extraction and deliberate contamination dramatically altered the landscape of the region, impacting the Kofan people’s culture and resulting in a public health crisis. Emergildo fought […]

ActivismUncategorizedFighting Big Corporations
Film

6:35 mins

Amazon Alive for Humanity A consulta é essencial para a conservação da Amazônia

Having lived for millennia in the forests of the ‘Amazonian Trapezoid’, today the Amacayacu National Park, indigenous communities there are now treated as an obstacle to conservation. Their rights have been systematically violated since the National Park was created in 1975. In April 2015 the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism signed an agreement to […]

BiodiversitycolombiaLand Rights
Film

9:28 mins

Week of Harvesting: inspiring the old, valuing the young Produce from the Amazon: local network and transparent supply chain flourishing

Terra do Meio in it’s fifth year brings together indigenous and local communities. The network of cantinas is able to supply traditional produce from the Amazon in a way that supports local communities and protects the forest. The Xipaya, Curuáya, Xikrin, Yudjá and Arara peoples joined by the banks of the Rio Xingu Extractive Reserves, […]

BiodiversityBrazilCulture
Film

5:40 mins

Tîtko: the epic journey of the Brazil Nut and the Wai Wai people De onde vem a castanha do Brasil? O povo Wai Wai da Amazônia explica

The Brazil nut has always been a centerpiece of Wai Wai food culture. With the organization of the production chain, it has become a driver that is transforming lives and reinforcing the protection of a territory afflicted by invaders. Find out more here.

BrazilBrazilCulture