On February 16 and 17 the documentary will be previewed Tsa’chila, the path of knowledgewhich collects the past, present and future of the nationality settled in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, located three hours from Quito.
The release of this feature film will take place at 5:00 p.m. next Thursday at the comprehensive information center of the Central University of Ecuador, located on the university campus, next to the Faculty of Petroleum.
The making of the feature film, which lasts 90 minutes, involved a year of research, a production process divided into three phases —with a total duration of seven months— and a post-production period of five months.
Eduardo Bravo Beira, general producer of the documentaryexplains that the seven Tsáchila communities are involved in the documentary: Chiguilpe, Otongo Mapalí, Poste, Peripa, Colorados del Bua, Los Naranjos and Cóngoma.
The project is part of what is indicated in article 379, literal 1, of the Constitution, referring to the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of culture, which has to do with languages, cultural expressions and knowledge. Name tsáchila means ‘true people’. Their language is tsáfique.
The story covers the tsáchila worldview, data and valuable information on the anthropological and linguistic origin of the ethnic group. Highlights the importance of material and immaterial culture. It consists of a portrait of the past, the present and a future projection of the existence of this indigenous nationality, which occupies a very important place in Ecuadorian history for being known as ancestral doctors and spiritual healers, for their deep knowledge of plants. and his life in harmony with the elements of nature.
The intention, adds Eduardo Bravo, is to revalue this culture, which had an early process and almost became extinct, but survived thanks to the use of achiote, which they still use up to now.
The achiote, according to the ancestors, was manifested in visions through their god pipowa; It is life, it means salvation, because his town was attacked by smallpox. This product is used in the hairstyle by men, which ends up being a kind of cap over the hair that is pointed forward. Before the tsáchilas did not have short hair, but from the fact they acquired the use of achiote.
The mu or achiote and its ancestral use for the tsáchilas
The documentary collects some archives of the Tsáchila nationality that were not necessarily in Santo Domingo, because there are no historical archives of this culture in the city.
The producers of Tsa’chila, the path of knowledge They found a Tsáchila film archive from 1949 at a Pennsylvania university and at the University of Arizona, who provided the entire archive and that will henceforth be part of the memory of the ethnic group in the country. It will rest in the cinematheque of the House of Culture.
For the preview event, the governor of the Tsáchila province, Mateo Calazacón, as well as the authorities of the city and the province will be present. The entrance to participate in the launch event is free of charge. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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