Río Verde. El tiempo de los Yakurunas

Green River. The Time of the Yakurunas
The lush green of the foliage forms a quivering reflection on the surface of the Amazon. According to the legends of the indigenous people of the region, the Yacurunas live beneath the water, in submerged cities that are the mirror image of human ones. Yet the film deals neither with mythical creatures nor with legends, catapulting viewers instead right into the midst of this incredibly green world. The residents of this region fish, hunt, cook, weave and live under circumstances that are anything but simple or romantic; their existence is dependent on the river, with which they live in an extreme symbiosis. As they move away from the camera, they sometimes appear to become one with the forest on the banks of the river. Their hunting calls and chants merge with the loud sounds of the jungle. Eschewing any classical anthropological pointers, Río Verde invites viewers to rely solely on their eyes and ears to get their bearings in this Amazonian catchment area. Or to allow its cinematographic prowess to carry them away to a place where the river itself becomes a surface for projections of all kinds, much like a cinema screen.
by Alvaro Sarmiento, Diego Sarmiento Peru 2017 Spanish, Quechua 70’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director Alvaro Sarmiento, Diego Sarmiento
Screenplay Alvaro Sarmiento
Cinematography Diego Sarmiento, Jair Guillén
Editing Alex Cruz, Fabricio Deza
Music Winston Tangoa
Sound Design Alex Cruz
Sound Carina Rosanna Tautu, Marco Panatonic
Producers Alvaro Sarmiento HDPeru, Diego Sarmiento Desfase Films

World sales

HDPeru

Produced by

HDPeru

Desfase Films

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Alvaro Sarmiento

Born in 1982 in Peru. He studied Film and Film Production. Alvaro Sarmiento is a producer, screenwriter and director.

Filmography

2007 La Oroya: Full Metal Air; 28 min. 2008 Wanka Willka; 28 min., Video Installation 2011 Cerro de Pasco: Deep Grave; 49 min. 2012 Rancas, From a Long Time Ago; 20 min. 2013 Kay Pacha; 13 min. 2017 Río Verde. El tiempo de los Yakurunas (Green River. The Time of the Yakurunas)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017

Álvaro & Diego Sarmiento

The Sarmiento brothers, Álvaro (born in 1982) and Diego (born in 1984), are two Peruvian directors whose films champion the rights of native peoples and the cause of environmental conservation. Their feature-length debut, Río Verde. El tiempo de los Yakurunas (Green River. The Time of the Yakurunas) premiered in the 2017 Forum and was shown at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight. Diego has directed several short films, two of which screened at the Berlinale: Hijos de la tierra (Earth’s Children) in Generation in 2014 and El sueño de Sonia (Sonia’s Dream) in the 2015 Culinary Cinema. Álvaro, who is also a visual artist and screenwriter, is a recipient of the Bellagio Center Arts & Literary Arts Residency and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship.

Filmography (selection)

2008 Wanka Willka; 28 min., Video Installation 2011 Cerro de Pasco: Deep Grave; 49 min. 2014 Hijos de la tierra (Earth's Children); 15 min., Berlinale Generation K-Plus 2014 2015 El sueño de Sonia (Sonia's Dream); 15 min. 2017 Río Verde. El tiempo de los Yakurunas (Green River. The Time of the Yakurunas) 2018 Sembradoras de Vida

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019