During April-May, 2009, a small volunteer film crew will venture into a Shiwiar tribal region of Ecuador´s Amazon rainforest to film an environmental documentary called ´Ikiam´.
The upcoming documentary will reveal how the Juyuintza tribal community (which is on the brink of economic civilization) is trying to defend their territory from oil exploitation through a new eco-tourism project, whilst trying to preserve their Shiwiar culture.
Simone Francis, Producer and Director of the upcoming film, who recently lived with the Juyuintza tribe for a month says `Their culture is dying out, and their story is important! The tribe is carving a future for their community that preserves their culture while helping to protect their environment and improve education for their children.´
Ikiam will lead us on an adventure deep into the jungle to find out what impact outside influences are having on the Shiwiar way of life, and will cover not only an environmental theme, but also indigenous, human rights, educational, and health and well being issues.
It is a non-profit project where half of any money made from the film will go towards helping to protect the Amazonian Shiwiar region as well as improving health and education in the region. The other half will go into the Nomadic Hands project (www.nomadichands.com) to help continue projects that help bring awareness to human rights, animal welfare and environmental conservation.
The crew is currently seeking sponsorship or donations to cover the cost of their flights in and out of the region, and for production expenses. There is also one volunteer film crew position still open.
If you would like to sponsor or donate to the Ikiam documentary project, or join the team, please contact Simone Francis at simone@nomadichands.com
For more information about the project go to http://www.nomadichands.com/news_blog.php?id=40
To view pictures of the tribal region go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadichands/sets/72157609872744654/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCUl38SOk1I
Source: http://www.couchsurfing.com/group_read.html?gid=3886&post=2293029
