Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, ‘I Am the Nature’ Celebrates Indigenous Cultural Philosophy

Directed by Taliesin Black-Brown and narrated by Ramiro Vargas Chumpí Washikiat, “I Am the Nature” poetically plumbs the human interconnection with nature through the eyes of the Indigenous Achuar people. The short documentary honors the philosophy of a culture whose ancestral lands extend across the modern borders of Ecuador and Peru, deep in the Amazon rainforest. Today, Achuar still living in the rainforest continue to practice and preserve ancestral ways of life.

In the early 20th century, the government granted oil concessions that allowed industry to systematically move closer to the Achuar homeland. Further expansion and development in the region increased dramatically in the 1960s, initiating contact between the Achuar and the Western world.

Washikiat chronicles a vision he had as a boy, which foretold he would travel to the U.S. to learn English. In his journey, he observed incredible cultural and societal contrasts, such as individualism in place of collectivity, and yet his experiences away from the jungle instilled an ever deeper understanding that we are all children of the earth.

“I Am the Nature” introduces us to a way of life inextricably entwined with the surrounding environment, simultaneously reliant on and in harmony with nature. “We peacefully live in a simple way,” Washikiat says. “That’s what we would like to share to the world.”

The short film was an official selection in the 2024 DOC NYC documentary film festival and the 2024 Banff Center Mountain Film Festival, among others. See it on Vimeo.