Since the 1980s, the Video in the Villages' project has encouraged the encounter of the Amazonian Indians with their images. The project's proposal is to turn video into a tool that will enable the expression of their identity, reflecting their vision about themselves and about the world.
While providing the indigenous communities with video equipment, the project has stimulated image and information exchange among the nations. Initially the training of Indian video-makers was done village-by-village, providing records for their own use. Today, through national and regional workshops, they learn and discuss together ways to present their reality, for their own people and for the world. The documentaries develop issues that are considered important by their communities. The project's collection includes a series of documentaries produced by the team of trainers and by indigenous video-makers.
Its vision of using filmmaking and communication to empower indigenous communities has... gained the group wide acclaim, from humanitarian organizations, film critics, and scholars alike.
- Zoe Graham, Visual Anthropology Review
The collection contains the following series:
The use of video by different communities.
Encounters and interchange between nations that have met through video recording.
A way of approaching ritual and cultural traditions in complicity with the Indians.
Documentaries produced during workshops.
Environmental protection projects and innovative experiences of sustainable development in indigenous areas of the Amazon.
Conflicts and sustainable development in indigenous areas.
A series of videos produced for the 'TV Escola' (TV School) of the Ministry of Education draw a picture of contemporary indigenous reality for college students.
Documentation of new sustainable development efforts in the Ashaninka villages of Acre, Brazil