Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians, 2014

Type of project: Documentary

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Description: An urgent story about the Wixarika People, one of the last living Pre-Hispanic cultures in Latin America, and their struggle with the Mexican government and transnational mining companies to preserve Wirikuta, their most sacred territory and the land where the peyote grows, the traditional medicine that keeps the knowledge of this iconic culture of Mexico alive. We enter the Wixarika world accompanying the Ramírez family, a traditional clan of the Sierra Madre, while they perform the ancient pilgrimage to Wirikuta, a ceremony held every year to honor their spiritual tradition. But this time something is different: the “Heart of the World”, where everything is sacred, is in serious danger. In 2010 the Mexican government granted concessions to several Canadian mining companies to explore and exploit the area, a semi-desertic natural reserve of 140 thousand hectares in the state of San Luis Potosí, rich in gold, silver and other valuable minerals, and which according to the Huichol worldview, maintains the energy balance of the region and the whole planet. The main company already established in the area promises to create hundreds of jobs for the needy people of a region that already has a history in mining activities, without causing pollution or affecting the indigenous sacred areas. However, for the Wixarika People and their supporters (well known activists, artists and scientists), mining implies a mortal threat to the delicate biodiversity of this unique ecosystem, included on the list of Sacred Natural and Cultural Sites by the UNESCO, and therefore, to the survival of this ancient culture. An uneven and controversial fight ensues, which stimulates the complex global debate between ancestral cultural values, the exploitation of nature and the inevitable development of the peoples

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