Kiarãsâ Yõ Sâty, The Agouti's Peanut
From the Ashaninka Villages series in the Video in the Villages collection
By Paturi and Komoi Panará
color, 51 min, 2005
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As the young boys of this indigenous community suit up to play an intense game of soccer in a clearing in their village, their coach tells us that soccer is a lot like traditional indigenous games. He notes, "We are learning things from the Whites but without abandoning the Panará culture."
This video examines the everyday work and recreation of the Panará people, who blend their traditional ways with the influences of official Brazilan culture. Lighthearted and compelling, the documentary encourages viewers to question the simple dichotomy of tradition versus modernity.
With clever use of parallel editing, the video follows different members of the community engaged in various activities throughout their day. A couple hunts unsuccessfully for game, the village doctor searches for medicinal herbs in the forest to perform a healing ritual, boys play soccer and go fishing, and women perform a dance to celebrate the peanut harvest. According to their traditional belief, the agouti, a small four-legged animal, gave the Panará the peanut. They show their appreciation and respect for the agouti through an elaborate dance.
The film is book-ended by one man's arrival back home from Brasilia, where he is working on writing a text in the Panará language and hopes to improve his Portuguese. The film concludes when he leaves once again for Brasilia to continue his work. The Agouti's Peanut presents an optimistic look at contemporary indigenous life and the possibility of harmonious co-existence for indigenous and official culture.
Festivals, Screenings, Awards
Golden Tatu, Best Video Documentary, XXXII Jornada
Internacional de Cinema da Bahia, Salvador 2005, Brazil
Best Documentary, forumdoc.2005, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Honourable Mention, 10th Internacional Ethnographic Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, 2005
International Ethnographic Film Festival of the Royal Anthropological Institute, UK, 2007
Parnü: International Film Festival, Estonia, 2007
other films from the Ashaninka Villages series:
Imbé Gikegü, The Scent of Pequi Fruit
New Era
Iauaretê, Waterfall of the Jaguars