Description:

Weaving together elements of documentary filmmaking and Ayoreo-Totobiegosode mythology, Paz Encina’s EAMI is both document and cinematic narrative that portrays indigenous life in a region that is often overlooked and under-represented: Paraguayan Chaco. EAMI not only shows the impacts of deforestation and ecological devastation on the Indigenous tribes who live in Chaco, a place famous for its hard-wood forests and jungle, but also indicates how the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode peoples are able to respond and survive such changes. The word “eami”, meaning both “forest” and “world” in Ayoreo, is also the name of the film’s young protagonist, who navigates a landscape transformed by the violence of extraction. As she wanders, Encina layers the voices from members of Eami’s tribe, who recount creation myths and relate how illegal loggers expelled them from homes. Encina’s complex and dreamlike montage of image and sound earned EAMI the prestigious Tiger Award at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam along with numerous prizes in Europe and Latin America.

Following the screening, Encina will appear for a discussion with Natalia Brizuela, Associate Professor of Film & Media and Spanish & Portuguese at UC, Berkeley. Curated by Jesse Rothbard.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Born in 1971, Paz Encina is a filmmaker and artist who resides in Paraguay, her country of origin. She is a member of the Academia Paraguaya de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, Documentalistas del Paraguay, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her films have developed by looking for new narratives based on the search for her own point of view. She has worked in different languages: video art; video installations; 8 mm, 16 mm, and 35 mm film; and digital formats. Much of her work in short films, feature films, and installations is dedicated to the search for memory.

Presented with support from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, the Climate Crisis + Media Arts Working Group of the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, the MFA in Documentary Media, and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at Northwestern.