AYLLU: Memories and Visions

A short documentary, executive produced by Native Land Digital, about water, tradition, and community organization in the Ñamarín Community.

Watch the official teaser below.

Synopsis

AYLLU: Memories and Visions tells the story of the evolution and implementation of a management system that enables the Ñamarín Community to address its water-related challenges. It is an acknowledgment of the power of tradition and innovation in realizing the future the community envisions, and an invitation to reflect on how the pillars of a community's organizational structure are gradually built on its ancestral territory — allowing its members to shape their visions for the future together.

The film was shot in the territory of the Ñamarín Community, Saraguro People, Kichwa Nationality, in the southern Andean region of Ecuador.

Background

The idea for the film emerged in 2023 as a proposal from Víctor Sauca, Research Lead at Native Land Digital, after he served for a year as president of the Ñamarín Community. In that role, he saw how daily processes that might seem ordinary are in fact key to understanding the relationship between water and the community's organizational structure.

That reflection became a proposal to bring Native Land Digital's work into physical Indigenous territories through an audiovisual production. The project took shape in 2024 after the Ñamarín Community approved filming, and became a documentary exploring how traditional knowledge is integrated into administrative practices around water management.

AYLLU: Memories and Visions is an original production by Native Land Digital, executive produced by the organization as part of its work creating spaces where Indigenous communities can represent themselves and their histories on their own terms.

Crew

• Director: Ariel Chalán
• General Producer / Script: Víctor Sauca
• Associate Producer / Script / Art Direction: Silvia Medina
• Director of Photography: Henry Zaruma
• Sound Mixing: Amawta Lozano

Learn more about the project at Ayllu Land.