Morayngava: the “design of things.” Yngiru: the box of the spirits, the films, just like xaman dreams. This is how the Asurini define video, which has just arrived in their village. After discovering that it is possible to store their images, the old men lament that they never stored images of their ancestors and decided to register the initiation of a xaman, a tradition threatened by new times.
Directed by Virginia Valadão and Regina Müller.
In Assurini with English subtitles.
Virginia Valadão produced videos with her husband, Vincent Carelli, and worked with the Centro de Trabalho Indigenista in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The group works to bring an understanding of the power of TV technology to indigenous peoples as an empowering tool in their fight to preserve their lands and ways of life. The Video in the Villages Project is an ongoing series that grew out of the frustrating experiences the native Brazilian Waiãpi had with ethnographic film and video shoots in their villages. The project was initiated in 1985 and has had a profound effect on native image and self image, inter-tribal relations, and relations with white institutions. The project is actively involved in teaching video technology, and members of several native groups participate in the production and editing of the videotapes.