USP newspaper publishes article on research that analyzes indigenous cinema

Award-winning thesis follows the cinema of the Manoki and Myky indigenous peoples

An anthropologist who offers audiovisual workshops in villages in Mato Grosso analyzed films on themes such as traditional games and rituals and the relationships between humans and non-humans

Through audiovisual language, the Manoki and Myky indigenous peoples found a way to share their practices and stories. The engagement of young people with audiovisual led to the reactivation of traditions of these peoples, who live in Mato Grosso, the creation of a film collective and the production of some award-winning films. It was from researcher André Lopes' contact and relationship with this process that the doctoral thesis Ijã Mytyli: The Manoki and the Mỹky in their new paths - audiovisual stories was born, winner of the USP 2024 Outstanding Thesis Award in the Innovation category.

A graduate in Social Sciences, André Lopes has been working with the Manoki in the state of Mato Grosso since 2008 and, since 2009, has assisted in the filming and production process of films, offering audiovisual workshops. The first documentary, The Baptism of the Manoki Boys, was produced in 2009. The film presents the initiation ritual of young people into adulthood, which had not been done for 14 years.

“The possibility of recording this ceremony was one of the factors that contributed to its reactivation. This was the first work and then we continued making videos. The master's and doctorate degrees were ways to continue the relationship of collaboration and partnership with these people in the villages”, says Lopes.

According to the anthropologist, his doctorate is an expansion of his master's degree, which also consisted of research and audiovisual production work, but restricted to the Manoki indigenous people. After a visit to the Myky village, he decided to expand his research and offer workshops to this community. Under the guidance of professor Renato Sztutman, the researcher defended his doctoral thesis in Social Anthropology at the School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at USP in 2023.

Indigenous Protagonism

The researcher explains the importance of indigenous peoples using tools to create their own cinema. “The idea is for them to take ownership of these audiovisual tools so that they can continue to be the protagonists of their own stories. So that they can tell the stories of their people themselves. Until then, their experience was of outsiders who would come and talk about them or record them, take them away and not return to the community. They didn’t have much control over how this material was shown and distributed,” says Lopes.

During the research, the young people from these communities created, together with the anthropologist, the Ijã Mytyli Collective of Manoki and Mỹky Cinema so that they could continue their productions. “The creation of an indigenous cinema collective was a proposal that we created together. We brought together the young people from these two peoples to give greater synergy to these productions and, over the years, we managed to obtain funding so that these communities also had equipment. So today the three largest communities have professional cameras, microphones and tripods, they are well equipped to continue doing these audiovisual activities,” explains the researcher.

Lopes's doctoral research focused on studying the themes that were portrayed in films made by indigenous people. The anthropologist defined the approaches in partnership with the village residents. “The indigenous people chose what they were going to film. As they chose the research topics, we went deeper into the themes anthropologically. So, the choice of the thesis topics was made in partnership with these young people,” he says.

Audiovisual narratives

With the support of the Image and Sound in Anthropology Laboratory (LISA) at USP, Lopes produced three feature-length films and five short films directed by indigenous people, which are part of his research. The objective was to understand the uses of audiovisual images and the meanings of the appropriation of this language by indigenous peoples. To do this, he uses the concept of cosmopolitics, which refers to the links between human and non-human beings in a worldview that does not divide culture and nature as separate universes.

“The circulation of images and sounds among indigenous peoples operates interethnic mediations, between indigenous and non-indigenous people, or intergenerational mediations, between different groups within the same society. However, indigenous films often feature not only the humans who inhabit this plane, but also beings who inhabit other ontologically different worlds and with whom they must have cosmopolitical diplomacy,” he points out.

According to the researcher, the use of video by indigenous peoples functions as an amplified cosmopolitical mediation. “Indigenous cinema operates an amplified cosmopolitical mediation because they also want to convey these messages that come from these multiple spiritual worlds. They want to convey this message to non-indigenous people, who are unaware of the existence of these beings,” adds Lopes.

Among the films included in the research, two portray the head ball games of the Manoki and Myky, a type of soccer played exclusively by men, in which only the head can touch the ball. The film Ãjãí: the head game of Myky and Manoki presents this practice and the preparations for the game and won the award for best feature-length documentary at Cine Kurumin.

In this game, participants must reach the opposing team's field without them being able to hit the ball back. To score a point, teams must make three consecutive winning shots. Competitions can last up to three days, since the contests only end when all bets, prizes in dispute, have been won. The prizes are varied, such as goods, seeds and cultivation elements. Although they do not participate in the field, women play a central role in the games because they prepare the bets and the food for the days of celebration.  

The other productions that make up the research are The spirits only understand our language, Weaving our paths, Piny Pyta: the strength of our medicines, Pinjawuli: the poison reached me and Jãkany Ãkakjey: our food. The first two films show the resistance of the Manoki people and their hope of speaking their indigenous language again, as currently only six elders of the community still speak the language, which is a way of communicating with the spirits. The third film presents the indigenous people's means of resistance during the pandemic. Pinjawuli is based on a dream of the director himself, Bih Kezo, and criticizes the contamination of crops by the use of pesticides. Jãkany Ãkakjey discusses the relationship between the living and the dead and the preparations on the community farm for the sacred Yetá ritual.

This text was originally published by Jornal da USP on 11/21/2024, at 6:48 pm. Read the original here.