Indigenous People’s Day: Tulio Viteri, the Director of International Relations for the Indigenous Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2025, the Department of Anthropology is hosting a public screening of the film Helena from Sarayaku, followed by a Q&A with the director Eriberto Gualinga, an internationally recognized Indigenous filmmaker from the Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The full-length documentary depicts Sarayaku’s struggle against environmental degradation in their territory and how this struggle gave rise to the Living Forest Proposal for Indigenous-led rainforest conservation and climate change mitigation. Traveling between her life in Finland and her mother’s homeland deep in the rainforests of Ecuador, 17-year-old Helena Gualinga yearns to protect her Indigenous community from extractive development and the repercussions of climate change. Her story highlights the efforts of the Kichwa people of Sarayaku to recognize the Amazon rainforest as Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest in Kichwa). The Living Forest is both a cultural philosophy and a proposal that states the rainforest is not a resource to be used, but a living entity in need of protection. With the help of her Sarayaku elders’ wisdom, Helena sets out on a journey to educate the world about the importance of conserving the Amazon rainforest, participating in climate marches, and giving speeches about indigenous sovereignty. A story of perseverance and resilience, the film is an ode to Indigenous communities striving to preserve their culture as they face the consequences of a globalized world and the hastening effects of climate change.