The Path of the sun is seeking $5,000 in financing through Kickstarter in order to raise funds for 100 film festival submissions.
The purpose of this Kickstarter campaign is to secure funds for film festival entry fee submissions.
Additional funding outside of Kickstarter is in place to purchase editing equipment, software and other needed expenses.
In the west our views about the world in which we live and the questions about our existence, in other words "our reality" are largely shaped by science and religion.
Many indigenous cultures, on the other hand, see their lives and understand their existence in a very different way. Their knowledge and belief systems are guided by experience and observation handed down verbally over the ages. Many cultures also learn from plants. Their shaman ingest what they consider to be sacred plants, which allow them to travel into the spirit world in order to learn, grow, heal or be healed.
As we near the technological singularity why are non-western belief systems important to us in the twenty first century?
The advancements to our society and culture stemming from the industrial revolution of the last century to the Internet explosion of today are clear. Yet, with all the knowledge we have gained we also tend to live in disharmony with our planet, other nations and within our own communities.
But what of the knowledge of indigenous cultures and the use of sacred plant medicine - is there something for us to learn? Can their knowledge provide new insight? Can their wisdom enhance what we know? Is there a place for western style and indigenous knowledge systems to co-exist?
The Path of the Sun seeks to answer these questions by hearing the words, ideas, concepts and thoughts directly from two indigenous groups of shamanic practitioners: the Q'eros of the high Andes of Peru and the curanderos of the Peruvian Amazon.
The Q'eros believe they are the direct bloodline descendants of the Inka. It was in the late 1950's when a group of explorers headed by Anthropologist Oscar Nunez Del Prado went high up into the Andes to meet with the community for the first time. They found that many of the Q'eros lived at altitudes that exceeded 14,000 feet. Their homes were primitive stone huts, had dirt floors and grass thatched roofs. They claimed then and today that their shamanic ways are derived from the same practices of the Inka and tap into universal energy. This energy work is said to heal sickness, predict the future and manipulate their environment. Up until the middle of the 20th century, prior to frequent contact with the outside world they were able to live in harmony with Mother Nature through a reciprocity based system of exchange called Ayni.
Mestizo and Indigenous curanderos in the Amazon work to heal ones sickness, malady and soul with a sacred brew called Ayahuasca that is made from the vine Banesteriopsis Caapi and the Chacruna leaf Psychotria viridis containing one of the most powerful hallucinogens known to man DMT N-dimethyltryptamine. Ayahuasca is a powerful medicine that is said to be able to transport you to other worlds where one encounters spirits and intense visual images. Ultimately, the medicine works in a way that heals; from relieving stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders to in some reported cases curing physical ailments, illness and disease. Many practitioners and westerners that work with the brew also say that the medicine improves their lives and relationships as they are able to see things in a different way after drinking the brew. Ayahuasca has also been used successfully for decades to treat alcoholism and drug addiction.
CURRENT STATE OF THE FILM
I have completed eighteen interviews with native shaman, academics and authors and have recorded over one terabyte of imagery and photography. Two more interviews are scheduled and should be completed by the end of the year.
WHO'S IN THE FILM
Don Humberto Soncco - Kurak Aquellak of the Q'eros Nation Dona Bernadina Soncco - Pampa Mesoyaq of the Q'eros Nation Rolando Soncco - Pampa Mesoyaq of the Q'eros Nation Guillermo Soncco - Pampa Mesoyaq of the Q'eros Nation Don Andres Flores - Pampa Mesoyaq of the Q'eros Nation Benito Machaca - Pampa Mesoyaq and President of the Q'eros Nation Maestro Don Ignacio - Curandero/Ayahuasquero - Infierno, Peru Ronald Rivera Cachique - Ayahuasquero/Ayahuascologo - Pucallpa, Peru Maestro Luis Culquiton - Curandero/Ayahuasquero - Iquitos, Peru Holly Wissler, PhD - Anthropologist Stephan Beyer, PhD - Author "Singing to the Plants" Maggi Quinlan, PhD - Therapist Elizabeth Jenkins - Author "The Return of the Inka" Juan Nunez Del Prado - Anthropologist Editing has begun and will be completed by the end of May, 2013.
Film Festival submissions begin in June, 2013
In order to bring awareness to the film I have created a blog and Facebook Page. They can be viewed at:
www.thepathofthesun.com
and
www.facebook.com/thepathofthesun
REWARDS
Please note all awards that involve shipping are to the US only, if you live outside of the US special arrangements can be made. Please contact the filmmaker at [email protected]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to personally thank the following people and organizations for their assistance and/or participation in the production of this Kickstarter video.
Q'eros Nation, Don Humberto Soncco, Dona Bernadina Soncco, Guillermo Soncco, Rolando Soncco, Marcossa Soncco, Don Andres Flores, Ronald Rivera Cachique, Don Ignacio, Casa de Campo, The International Q'eros Foundation and JaGoFF for use of their song Move Your Feet
Special thanks go to Elise Noela May as Assistant DP for Piece To Camera work and Martha Morales Polar
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