Amazon Icons
Amazon Icons is a documentary film that will utilize the accessibility and exploratory capabilities of whitewater kayakers, to support and document both the territorial protection of the Colombian Amazon's indigenous communities, and the forest’s unmatched biodiversity.
PADDLING WITH A PURPOSE
We will follow three world-famous kayakers and explorers, Tyler Bradt, Aniol Serrasolses, and Jules Domine, through one of the most dense and unforgiving jungles in the world, the Colombian Amazon. Their mission is to successfully descend two never-before-run sections of whitewater, hidden five hundred kilometers deep in the vast extent of the Amazon. These sections are the Araracuara rapids on the Caquetá river, and Jirijirimo falls on the Apaporis river.
Araracuara rapids © Jules DOMINE
In addition to the important role they play in the ecosystem as the only ecological barriers between the Andes and the Amazon confluence, these cataracts are sacred landmarks for the indigenous populations of the Caquetá drainage. Araracuara (the macaw's nest), and Jirijirimo (the anaconda's nest) are believed to have been created by divine forces as bulwarks against invasion. The team will document how the fascinating cultures of the river peoples relate to and depend on these rapids, before Tyler, Aniol, and Jules attempt to paddle them.
Most extreme sports documentaries tell their story as a clash between the protagonists and the elements. That's not our vision of kayaking, nor of human life, for that matter.
We have been in the Amazon many times, and, like any environment or river, we have always approached it with a deep sense of humility. Amazon Icons will be the first kayak documentary that's not about kayaking: our goal is to share the experiences and knowledge of the indigenous people, and use it to help protect this area for years to come.
Jules contemplating Jirijirimo Falls © Chris Korbulic
Much more than the expeditionary pursuit of some of the largest runnable rapids in the world, the adventure will aim to highlight the vulnerability of the region and its indigenous communities. For five centuries this region has been torn apart by conflicting interests, including resource extraction, religious assimilation missions, guerrilla presence, and narco-trafficking.
With global warming as an additional, invisible but equally rampant threat that affects the rich but fragile environment they tend to, now more than ever, it is of paramount importance to testify for the Uitoto, Muinane, Taiwano, Kabuyari, Makuna, and other local communities or indigenas. Our purpose is help protect two of the Amazon's most iconic places by giving voice to the communities’ concerns, to their fights, and to their claims.
A family encountered on the water © Chris Korbulic
We need your help to defend the rapids and the peoples that live near them. By chipping in our project, you'll help us remain independent as we strive to make a committed, impactful film. Past that, you will become part of an unprecedented endeavor to mix extreme sports with social and environmental actions in the Amazon.
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OUR DEDICATED PROTAGONISTS
Tyler Bradt
*Professional kayaker renowned for ambitious kayaking projects as the “Oil + Water ” project (full Pan-American Highway kayak road trip on vegetable oil fuel), or the “Wizard’s Eye ’’ (5-year sailing circumnavigation with kayaking and adventure stops all over the world).
* World record holder of free-fall in a kayak (Palouse Falls , Washington, 56 m).
Follow Tyler on Instagram . Like Tyler's page on Facebook .
Aniol Serrasolses
*Professional kayaker, unanimously recognized as one of the best all-around athletes, and of the most followed on social media.
*Speed and high-flow record of the one-day solo descent of the infamous Stikine river in northern B.C.
*2018 North Fork Championship winner. (most prestigious extreme kayak race).
*Co-founder of the Serrasolses Brothers Program that teaches kayaking courses to deprived youths all over the world.
Follow Aniol on Instagram . Like Aniol's page on Facebook .
Jules Domine
*Professional kayaker specialised in exploration. First one-day solo descent of the infamous Stikine River in northern BC. Led multiple expeditions in the Colombian Amazon, namely on the Apaporis and the Caquetá rivers.
*2014 North Fork Championship winner (most prestigious extreme kayak race).
*Founder of Expedition Colombia , a high-end sports and eco-tourism company based in Medellín. Founder of Foundación Yumaná, a NGO committed to river protection.
Follow Jules on Instagram . Like Jules's page on Facebook .
Aniol and Jules taking a break on the Apaporis © Chris Korbulic
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REWARDS
Your support is priceless and we couldn't be grateful enough to have it. Size does not really matter here as each contribution is a big step towards the achievement of our goal.
We're offering you a wide array of rewards that range from a private link to the film (10€) to a one-day kayak lesson with Aniol or two-day rafting and hiking trip in Colombia (1000€), including high definition photos from the expedition (50€), signed poster-size photos (100€), Q&A sessions with the team (200€), and more.
FULL DETAIL OF REWARDS:
1. Contribution of 1€ or more: A toast!
Projects always pledge "thank yous" to their contributors. But you deserve more, so for every contribution, we'll make a toast to your good health on New Year's Eve. And even after that if you mobilise late.
Includes:
-A toast to your good health
Delivery: immediate
2. Contribution of 5€ or more: There's no little merit!
We understand that social recognition is as important as personal satisfaction these days, so we'll give you a special shoutout on social media and your name will figure in the film's credits. Many thanks, for the Amazon.
Includes:
-A toast to your good health
-Mention in the film's credits and shoutout on social media
Delivery: September 2019, worldwide
3. Contribution of 10€ or more: Become Iconic!
This is the opportunity to discover places of blinding and outrageous beauty. You're helping the Amazon and it's peoples, so you'll get our film!
Includes:
-A toast to your good health
-Mention in the film's credits and shoutout on social media
-Private link for Amazon Icons
Delivery: December 2019, worldwide
4. Contribution of 20 € or more: 1/1000th!
Please multiply yourself! If only a thousand people were like you, we'd have already made it!
Includes:
-Rewards 1-2
-Private link for Amazon Icons
-Private link for the film's making of
Delivery: December 2019, worldwide
5. Contribution of 50€ or more: Redecorate!
In addition to all of the above, you'll get to choose 3 photos from the professional photographer of the expedition, and we'll send them to you in high definition for you to print, or do whatever you like (except selling them...).
Includes:
-Rewards 1-2
-Private link for Amazon Icons
-Private link for the film's making of
-3 photos from the expedition
Delivery: December 2019, worldwide
6. Contribution of 100€ or more: That's a big one!
There's no small contribution, but that's a big one. Choose your favorite photo from the expedition and we'll send it out to you as a large-size poster signed by the protagonist(s) of your choice.
Includes:
-Rewards 1-2
-Private link for Amazon Icons
-Private link for the film's making of
-3 photos from the expedition
-A 50x90 cm signed poster
Delivery: December 2019, worldwide
7. Contribution of 200€ or more: Let's have a chat!
We're not very sexy to look at but some of us may be worth the chat, and we'd love to meet you.
The chat can happen any time after we complete this campaign.
Includes:
-Rewards 1-6
-Skype Q&A with the team members of your choice
Delivery: December 2019, worldwide
8. Contribution of 500 € or more: Will you go out with us?
We love what you're doing for us, so we're asking you out. Come to the premiere of your choice (North Am, Europe, South Am), watch the film and have drinks with us. We can't pay for travel and accommodation, but we'll offer the rest and most importantly we promise you great fun.
Includes:
-Rewards 1-6
-Premiere invitation and meet the team
-Special mention in the film's credits
Delivery: December 2019, worldwide
9. Contribution of 1 000€ or more: Special rewards!
MANY THANKS. Choose between two incredible additional rewards:
=>Get Aniol Serrasosles as your private kayak instructor for a day. Summer 2019 on the west coast of the US (Washington State), or fall 2019 in Spain (travel expenses excluded).
OR
=>Expedition Colombia will offer you a private two-day hiking and rafting trip in Colombia, with the person of your choice. All you have to do is come to Medellín, and we'll take care of the rest.
The trip can be delivered anytime after we complete this campaign. Contact us for more info.
Includes:
-Rewards 1-6
-Skype Q&A with the team members of your choice
-Premiere invitation and meet the team
-Poster signed by protagonist of your choice
-Special mention in the film's credits
-Free hiking and rafting trip for two OR free 1 day kayak course
Delivery: from December 2019, worldwide
10. Contribution of 5 000€ or more: Become Associate Producer!
There's a spot for you on board. You'll have an inside access to all the film-making process, and you'll get to work with a great team of dedicated individuals.
Includes:
-Rewards 1-6
-Skype Q&A with the team members of your choice
-Premiere invitation and meet the team
-Poster signed by protagonist of your choice
-Free hiking and rafting trip for two OR free 1 day kayak course
-Associate Producer role & credits
Delivery: January 2019, worldwide
Expect the film to be send out in early December 2019 at the latest. For all the rewards that can be sent out/delivered before expedition or right after, just contact us at [email redacted] to set a time that suits you best!
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ORAL MYTHS VISUALIZED
The myths and legends of the Amazon have been orally transmitted from times immemorial, and so it’s nearly impossible to put images on them. That’s where Eliana Buenavida’s incredible talent for drawing and virtual animation will come into play. Thanks to her wondrous skills, she will be creating the visuals that will transport the public into the immaterial worlds of past ages and indigenous spirituality.
This project is for her a significant step toward reconnecting with her indigenous heritage and lost past. A multitalented young lady, Eliana is the incarnation of the Colombian people's resilience. In her blood flows the rivers of the Amazon, one the shores of which she was born before her complicated and solitary upbringing took her to Medellín, where she carved her own future as an independent graphic designer and artist.
On top of providing the images we can't capture, she will be also in charge of the logistics. If you still had doubts don't worry, this project is in the right hands!
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BOTANICAL STUDY
We need to understand how ecosystems work in order to better protect them. For this reason, the team has been missioned to collect plants by botanist Dr. Rodrigo Bernal , one of South America’s foremost botanist.
It is not hard to find undocumented plant species in this region, and the rheophytic flora that grows along the shores of rapids are of incredible significance. Rheophytes are a fascination to botany, as they are a disconcerting form of aquatic plants that grow in the strong current of riverbed flood zones, where very few organisms manage to survive. Because of the difficulties involved in reaching the areas where they grow, rheophytes remain poorly known, and the study of the rheophytic flora in a particular river usually produces several species new to science.
Jules has been working with Dr. Bernal and other Colombian botanist Saúl Hoyos for the past couple of years, helping conduct the first study of rheophytic plants in Colombia, and one of the very first in the Neotropic. Their collaboration has already identified 13 new species of rheophytic plants.
The rheophytes that grow in Araracuara have never been collected, and their comparative study with those of Jirijirimo and of the upper Caquetá river will help science better understand the evolutionary processes underlying the rheophytic habit, as well as the evolution of Amazonian and Andean ecosystems.
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A DIALOGUE WITH AUTHORS
Both rivers and rapids have a place of choice in some of the most famous literary works on and from Colombia: One River, by Wade Davis, and I leave my soul to the Devil, by German Castro Caycedo . As the project goes forth, we will be walking in the footsteps of these authors, and inevitably interacting with their narratives. The authors have been contacted and have agreed to give us interviews on their books, their knowledge of the region, and their impressions on Amazon Icons.
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IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING
We have explored the region on various occasions, and are well aware of the issues that our presence in the ingenious communities may cause. With our previous knowledge of this region, we will be able to take into account every necessary precaution to make sure our stay, and the documentation process is not disruptive to the people, or to the region. We are making this film to help, not hinder local communities. In addition to good common sense, we will follow NGO guidelines when staying inside communities.
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HOW WE WILL SPEND THE FUNDS
Amazon Icons is driven by passion and commitment. No-one on the team is getting paid off the film's budget and all of the production work and human capital involved is purely voluntary.
Thanks to a grant, to our generous partners and to bighearted private investors, the development and expedition expenses are covered. Unfortunately, and in spite of all the personal resources we have put into this project, we still have to make ends meet. Your help is what will enable us to work most freely!
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SURPASSING OUR GOAL
Your help is what will make this expedition a truly powerful form of advocacy for the Amazon and the people to whom it is home. The more we surpass our crowdfunding objective, the less we'll have to cut costs and the more we'll be able to extend the length of our expedition and shooting period.
Together, let's make it happen !
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MEDIA TEAM
In addition to the protagonists above:
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WANT TO GO ALL IN?
Are you a generous person or company with hefty means who also likes our mission? Contact us at [email redacted] for investment opportunities and ways to help.
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Our supports besides you
Expedition Colombia
Aventure Colombia
Kokatat
International Rivers
Millet Expedition Project
Flowmotion Aerials
Wade Davis
Private investors
Family and friends
