Iquitos Hosts Amazon's First Floating Cinema Festival to Celebrate Indigenous Filmmaking

In the heart of Peru's Amazon region, the city of Iquitos recently hosted the Muyuna Floating Film Festival, a groundbreaking 10-day event that celebrated Indigenous filmmaking and environmental activism.

The festival took place in the poor neighborhood of Belén, where the unique geography necessitated a creative approach to screening films. Houses and businesses in Belén are built on stilts because of frequent monthslong floods, and families use canoes to travel through the area. To accommodate this setting, organizers set up a 10-meter (33-foot) high wooden structure to screen the films, allowing residents to watch from their canoes or home windows.

Many attendees experienced watching a movie on the big screen for the first time. Jorge Chilicahua, a 60-year-old farmer who raises chickens and plants crops to support his family, said with enthusiasm, *"For the first time, we are getting to know these settings that are uniting this community. "*

The Muyuna Floating Film Festival highlights the importance of preserving the world's jungles and their inhabitants, which is vital in addressing environmental challenges. By promoting Indigenous filmmaking and environmental activism, the festival can inspire change and raise awareness about the critical role Indigenous communities play in protecting the Amazon region.

The festival featured films from countries with tropical forests, including Thailand, Brazil, Taiwan, and Panama, plus works by young Peruvian filmmakers. One notable film was the Peruvian animated short *"The Engine and the Melody,"* which tells the story of an ant and a cicada working together to regenerate a forest.

The community of Belén faces numerous challenges, including malnutrition, diarrhea, and lack of access to drinking water. Residents also risk drowning because of the frequent floods, and mothers must keep a close eye on their children who cannot swim.

Daniel Martínez-Quintanilla, co-executive director of the festival, emphasized the importance of the event, stating, "The festival aims to be a tribute to the jungles of the world and its people, to the Indigenous communities, in which we believe lies the answer to the challenges and destruction that forests face now that everyone is talking about climate change."

The Muyuna Floating Film Festival not only brought attention to the struggles and triumphs of Indigenous communities in the Amazon region but also highlighted the critical role these communities play in addressing environmental challenges. By promoting Indigenous filmmaking and environmental activism, the festival underscored the importance of preserving the world's jungles and their inhabitants.

Key Takeaways

• The Muyuna Floating Film Festival celebrated Indigenous filmmaking and environmental activism in Peru's Amazon region.
• The 10-day event took place in Belén, a poor neighborhood with frequent floods, where residents watched films from canoes or home windows.
• The festival highlighted the importance of preserving jungles and their inhabitants in addressing environmental challenges.
• Films from countries with tropical forests, including Thailand and Brazil, were featured, along with works by young Peruvian filmmakers.
• The festival aimed to inspire change and raise awareness about the critical role Indigenous communities play in protecting the Amazon region.