Thinking like a Mountain

Alexander Hick

 

The Arhuacos are the guardians of the forest and the ice of Colombias highest mountain- the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. While on the surface this ancient culture appears not to have changed in centuries, Thinking Like a Mountain reveals a much more complex reality.

 

The Arhuacos draw from this unique environment a sustained and singular spirituality.

 

For the first time in their history the Arhuacos invited a filmmaker, Alex Hick, to visit the most remote communities and sacred sites in the heartland of their territory. „Thinking like a Mountain“ tells the story of resistance and preservation of nature, which is a voyage through space and time: from the shores of the Caribbean to the stars that light up the night on the glacier; from the Arhuacos encounter with the first colonising whites, to the homecoming of an Arhuaco guerrillero following the laying-down of arms by the FARC.

 

While on the surface the Arhuaco culture appears not to have changed in centuries, this film reveals quite the opposite. The cosmogony specific to this territory and its people has been preserved due to the self imposed isolationism of the Arhuacos, but a solemn history of violence is progressively drawn out through the film brought on by the changing political and spiritual landscape. In a thought provoking and pointed manner the film explores the colliding of two cultures and portraits indigenous life in the 21th century where isolationism seems to vanish, just like the glacier held sacred by its people.

 

Trailer

 

 

 

Protagonist

Jwikamey Torres, José de la Cruz Torres, Mamo Bernandino Suarez, Norma Suarez, Tobía Chaparro, Rogelio Mejía Izquierdo, Margarita Villafañe, Nawingumu and family, Joel Norena Serna, Mercedes Torres, Mamo Efraín Torres, Cornelio Suarez, Bunkey Torres, Alfonso Suarez

 

 

Crew & Production

Written and directed: Alexander Hick
Director of Photography: Immanuel Hick
Editing: Julian Sarmiento
Original music score: Christian Castagno and Nacho Drault

Producer: Anna Lozano, Alexander Hick
Consulting Producer: Maxim Holland, Gunter Hanfgarn

A Flipping the coin Films Production

Funding and support


FilmFernsehFonds Bayern

Freunde der HFF München

 Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film
Flipping the coin Films

 

Website

http://www.thinkinglikeamountain.org

 

Awards

Human Rights Film Award Germany, 2018

Special Mention of the Jury, International Filmfestival Vienna 2019

Festival participation

Visions du reel, 2018, Switzerland, 2018, International Competition

Cervino Cinemountain Festival, 2018, Italy, International Competition

Human Rights Filmfestival Inconvenient Films, 2018, Lithania, International Competition

Astra Filmfestival, 2018, Rumania, International Competition

Nominee First Step Award, 2018, Best Documentary

Mountainfilmfestival Graz, 2018, Austria, International Competition

Autrans International Filmfestival, 2018, France, International Competition

Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, 2019, Germany, Feature Documentary Competition

Festival Internacional de Cine Cartagena de Indias, 2019, Colombia,

Ethnocineca Filfestival, Austria, 2019, Nominee Excellence in Visual Anthropology Award

Royal Anthropological Institute Filmfestival, 2019, UK

Muestra de cine de derechos humanos, 2019, Guatemala

Encuentros del otro cine, 2019, Ecuador

Festival of Transcultural Cinema, 2019, Germany

Dokfest Munich, Nominated for the documentary talent award, 2019, Germany

Festival Présence autochtone 2019, Canada

Le Grand Bivouac – Documentary Film and Book Festival 2019, France

 

 

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