Waters of Pastaza Juunt Pastaza entsari

"In March 2018 I arrived in Suwa, an isolated community of about 80 inhabitants in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest. I lived there for 2 months and developed a close relationship with the children, who taught me and helped me with everything necessary to “survive” in that territory. So came the idea of a documentary that would follow the day-to-day lives of these extremely independent children, showing their intimate connection with nature, as well as their relationship with the new technologies, quite recent in the community. At a time when indigenous communities in the Amazon are under a strong permanent attack, intense deforestation driven by external economic interests, it seemed urgent to me to give them some visibility. Starting from the very specific universe of children, this film draws attention to the importance of establishing a more sustainable relationship with our environment." 
- Inês T. Alves

Inês T. Alves (Portugal, 1987) studied Cultural Narratives at the Nova University of Lisbon (FCSH), Santiago de Compostela University (Spain) and Bergamo University (Italy). She also studied Documentary Film at the University of the Arts London, with a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’ Scholarship. Apart from her filmmaker career, she develops film workshops with different communities and all ages, having collaborated with several associations. She is one of the founders of MOVIMENTO, a collaborative film workshop that happens every year in Portugal since 2015. Her short films were exhibited in several film festivals in Portugal and abroad. Her short documentary, Around Corners, about the post-colonial city of Maputo (Mozambique) in relationship to her family memories, won the New Cinema Award in Porto/Post/Doc Festival (Portugal). Juunt Pastaza Entsari (Waters of Pastaza) is her first feature film.