Ninawa Pai Da Mata Baptismal Film

Most people are aware that colonialism decimated many cultures in the Amazon rainforest. The state of Acre was hit hard by the rubber tapping industry starting in the late 1800's / early 1900's. Languages were lost, traditions and rituals disappeared, and yet many of the tribes in Acre are now experiencing a renaissance of their culture.

 

Ninawa Pai da Mata is a chief of a Huni Kuin village called "Novo Futuro" or New Future on the Humaita River. This reservation land was hit hard by colonization, losing much of their language and forgetting their traditional culture. Enigmatic leaders like Ninawa have been tirelessly working to bring the culture back and now the river is starting to see the youth relearning their ancient language and actively engaged in a cultural revolution.

 

When Ninawa began his mission 20 years ago, he held a dream that is now manifesting today after much prayer and effort. This is the dream of Nixpupima, which is their traditional baptismal or naming ceremony. Typically this is only done for the youth, as it is a coming of age ritual essential to their path into adulthood. Due to colonization, this ceremony was lost and forgotten and has disappeared from the entire reservation for many decades. Ninawa knew that elders in a more remote reserve, the Jordao River, still knew how to conduct this integral ritual and we have fundraised to bring them to his village to not only baptize all the villagers, but also to teach Ninawa and the leaders of his village how to conduct it going forward, so that an aspect of their culture will be forever revived in his village. This is truly a historic moment !

 

Ninawa has asked that we film this moment for his people for posterity sake, so that his grandchildren can see the moment that this was brought back. Additionally, we want to share this moment with the world, to tell an uplifting story of inspiration and hope that even when things seem lost, nothing is ever lost. Through determination and prayer, we can accomplish anything. Furthermore, we feel that telling the story of Ninawa and his peoples efforts to reignite their culture will give a face to the rainforest, personifying it in the hopes that people will begin to view the rainforest as a living breathing entity and start making more conscious decisions.

 

Right now we have about half the budget taken care of for preproduction, however we still need some more financing in order to make this work.

 

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