El Espejo del Espíritu, de João Meirinhos
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Documental de Joao Meirinhos sobre la Ayahuasca. En español e inglés subtitulado.
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew which has been used for divinatory and healing purposes since, at least, the 16th century. There are now more Westerners than ever traveling to South America in search of this shamanic experience. These are known as ’spiritual tourists’
‘The Mirror of the Spirit’ primarily follows the life of Don Ignacio, an old shaman from Puerto Maldonado, Sergio, an accidental tourist and Osman, a recovering drug addict seeking healing. They are like tributaries of the same river converging towards this ancient medicine for different personal reasons.
In Pucallpa we stay with Maestro Antonio Vasquez and his Shipibo-Conibo people at a community along the Ucayali River. And, in Iquitos, we are welcomed by David ‘Slocum’ Hewson at an holistic healing center mostly ran and visited by foreigners.
Starting out as an anthropological investigation, this chronological quest shows examples of mestizo, indigenous and western shamanic practices. It did not seek to document those already experts on the subject, but to give an unfiltered voice to others that came along its observational path of discovery; to better understand the mysteries of plant medicine, the business behind fake healers and the cross-cultural mimetic relationship between Amazonian natives and spiritual tourists.
With the technical support from the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology / University of Manchester.
Many thanks to all the Kickstarter campaign backers, especially Associate Producer – Lily Spencer.
Dedicated to the inspiring memory of Terrence McKenna and Pablo Amaringo.
All sound and footage was recorded during fieldwork, no images added in post-production.
Spanish and English subtitles available.
http://www.vimeo.com/96963450
