ELAR & Chouette Films Video Installation: Paunaka – Bolivia
Today on the ELAR blog, we are sharing the next short film from the video installation created by Anna and Remy Sowa of Chouette Films. The film featured in this post was created from footage from the ‘Documentation of Paunaka‘ deposit at ELAR, deposited by ELDP grantee Swintha Danielsen.
This video shows two of the few last speakers of Paunaka, an Arawakan language of Bolivian Amazonia. The old lady María Cuasace is talking about a trip she once made, and she is conversing with Miguel Supepí. This is in fact one of the very first videos taken by the project team in Santa Rita. The other sequence is the celebration of All Saints, which is very important to the Paunaka and other people of the village. It is how they remember their deceased relatives and long-remembered forefathers. Miguel is performing the mass for the inhabitants of Santa Rita, where some other Paunaka people participate, all of them trilingual with Spanish and Bésɨro.
Thank you to Anna, Remy, Swintha, and the speakers who made this film possible! Check back here on the blog to see the rest of the short films, which will be featured on the blog (one per week) for the next several weeks!
Blog post by Martha Tsutsui Billins