Ayênan Quinchoa Juajibioy (CO)
Jouenan Betiyeng Jabuayenán (The Plants That Guide)
video, 28:07 min, 2025
The Plants That Guide, Courtesy and © Ayênan Quinchoa Juajibioy, in cooperation with the Swiss National Science Foundation research project Plants_ Intelligence
This documentary deals with the human-plant interactions among the indigenous peoples in Colombia. “These relationships are dwindling because of planetary changes, so it is necessary and important to highlight, appreciate, and preserve this heritage, which is still alive among the people’s wise men and women. Because of their way of exploring and understanding their environs, they discover their language.” The dialogues show how relationships with plants have shaped human existence here for millennia.
Ayênan Quinchoa Juajibioy is one of the Kamëntsa and Inga peoples living in Putumavo, Colombia. He currently heads a small collective associated with the Pan-Amazonian Media Collective. With the help
of films and digital media, it preserves, reflects, and disseminates traditional knowledge. The existence and culture of the indigenous peoples of Colombia are threatened by the social, ecological, and economic changes wrought by globalization.