Over the next month, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the filmmakers whose work is represented in the DocuWeeksTM Theatrical Documentary Showcase, which runs from July 30 through August 19 in New York City and Los Angeles. We asked the filmmakers to share the stories behind their films--the inspirations, the challenges and obstacles, the goals and objectives, the reactions to their films so far.
So, to continue this series of conversations, here is Antonio Dorado, director/writer of Apaporis.
Synopsis: Apaporis takes us on a journey through the untrodden, war-locked Northwest Amazon, where we discover the secret knowledge of Cabiyari and Cubeo indigenous cultures and their insight into nature, life, and medicinal and psychotropic plants. With breathtaking images, millenary secrets are revealed such as the preparation of Yagé ("The vine of the Gods"), pulverized coca and curare, alongside a magical practice to revive dead animals. These communities, besieged by the looming death of their sacred languages and cultures, must now come together to preserve their very survival.
IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?
Antonio Dorado: I was involved in the early stages of a community series on our local channel, Telepacifico Cali, Colombia, called Rostros y Rastros, which tried to tell stories about our region from our own point of view. We produced hundreds of programs from this series. Afterwards I produced and directed various documentaries, one of which was the biography of the great Colombian thinker Estanislao Zuleta.
I am a documentarian by trade and conviction.
IDA: What inspired you to make Apaporis?
AD: I was inspired--or to put it more accurately, compelled, obligated, obsessed--to make this documentary after reading the book One River, by Wade Davis. This book crystallized a passion and curiosity I have always had for the secret knowledge of our indigenous cultures, of my own ancestors--the magic of their world view, the awesome knowledge they have accumulated throughout the centuries about toxic and psychotropic plants. I wanted to follow the steps of an amazing explorer like Richard Evans Schultes [Schultes, in 1941, led an epic 12-year research trip down the Amazon and through the Andes]; I wanted to follow the steps of poets like [William S.] Burroughs. I wanted to see with my own eyes, with South American eyes, this gorgeous jungle and tell its story and secrets to the world.
IDA: What were some of the challenges and obstacles in making this film, and how did you overcome them?
AD: Making a documentary on this scale without TV channel or studio support is nearly
impossible. Now, making a documentary in one of the most dangerous regions in the world--patching in small grants and putting in all our time and personal funds--was another story!
I think the only thing that allowed my team to overcome obstacle after obstacle--economic, political, security-wise--was our absolute conviction that we had to share this magic with the world. Only through seeing it, through experiencing what it means to travel through these unknown lands and be part of the day-to-day lives and ceremonies, we as a world can start to understand the importance of preserving the magic, the wealth of knowledge, and the respect for nature of these amazing cultures.
Time after time, people told us we were crazy, and they didn't return our calls, but we persevered because we know the Gods were with us.
IDA: How did your vision for the film change over the course of the pre-production, production and post-production processes?
AD: A huge deal. When I first started making the connections to travel to the Apaporis, I saw the region, given its many political conflicts, as perhaps a "green hell"--i.e. the vision we have of a land and customs that are being ravaged by Occidental culture. When I was there, I did observe the threats and damage we have done to this area. They are palpable, real, immediate. But what you see, what you feel, what you know instinctively in the jungle: It's that you are not in a green hell; you are in a green heaven. A green heaven that operates parallel to, but in conjunction with, our everyday world. A world where every breath of a plant, every whisper of a bird, every enchantment of a shaman gives humanity life, purpose, history. So, I took the journey, and I was changed in making this film. By experiencing the great Apaporis, the great Amazon river that unites us all, and by crafting this story, using my limited resources to the best effect I could, I was transformed.
IDA: As you've screened Apaporis--whether on the festival circuit, or in screening rooms, or in living rooms--how have audiences reacted to the film? What has been most surprising or unexpected about their reactions?
AD: It's amazing, you know? You see this documentary with a Colombian audience and it literally brings tears to many of our eyes. This is our land. This is our history. This is a precious resource we have ignored and fought against for so long. When I have test-screened this film in Colombia, people come up to me and you can see by their reaction that they feel that a story has been told about their country that is not about drugs, politics or bombs. That they have truly begun to appreciate our land differently.
Internationally, we've had a very warm reception. We screened a rough cut/work-in- progress at the DC Environmental Film Festival. The screening was sold out; people were sitting on the stairs. This version had many problems that we eventually fixed, but just the fact that people, particularly young, passionate people, would take time from their busy schedules and fill the theater showed me that I was not alone in my passion for this. That the preservation of the magic of the Amazon--its celebration--is a strong sentiment today.
IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?
AD: Documentary filmmakers stand on the shoulders of giants. I have researched, taught and been inspired by so many great minds in the genre.
Going back to the beginning, with the groundbreaking Nanook of the North--which in many ways is a straight predecessor, like Herzog's recent Encounters at the End of the World of Apaporis--to recent films like Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi, the work of Ken Burns
with the National Parks, and of course, the world of the great Latin American documentary filmmakers, who are my brothers in this adventure.
Apaporis will be screening July 30 through August 5 at the IFC Center in New York City, and August 6 through 12 at the Arclight Hollywood in Los Angeles
To download the DocuWeeksTM program, click here.
To purchase tickets for Apaporis in Los Angeles, click here.
To purchase tickets for Apaporis in New York, click here.