A documentary of the Huichol pilgrimage in Mexico
In 2003 ARC helped sponsor a video about the 400
kilometre-long Huichol pilgrimage route in Mexico. The
documentary was called “The Path We Will Follow” and
this is the story of how it was made, told by Humberto
Fernandez of CHAC.
“The making of this video has a rather
interesting background. The idea first came to us in
2003 to create a 50-minute documentary, as part of a
campaign to tell the general public about the Huichol
people and their pilgrimage route.
We
realised that few people know how to take care of and
protect the Route and even fewer know about its
existence.
After several talks it was
decided that we should initially do a shorter
documentary, to illustrate the richness of the area and
the problems it faces.
We began filming that
summer. A small team - made up of a cameraman, a
botanist, a producer, an assistant producer and myself –
spent the following 12 months making regular expeditions
to the three Mexican states through which the pilgrimage
route passes: San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Nayarit.
It was rather difficult to get us all
together as we all live in different parts of the
country (even different parts of the world, since our
botanist was from Spain). However, two years later we
had all the shots we needed to begin production.
Indigenous Huichol people, especially the
elders, played a vital role. They were the ones who
guided us through the area, showed us where the sacred
sites were and explained their ritual and cultural
meaning and significance.
Hui-chill and other possibilities
Many things happened during those two years, some new
ideas for the project flourished. One original idea –
which we haven’t forgotten but haven’t yet found the
time to follow through – was to produce a musical fusion
between Huichol native sounds and relaxing contemporary
music. We even had a name for it: Hui-chill. The Huichol
were excited about the idea since they’ve been very
creative at adapting traditional music to “corridos”
from the northern area of Mexico and have been doing it
for years now.
The key environmental message is to
demonstrate how biological and cultural diversity are
intrinsically linked. And the main purpose of the film
was to promote our initiative, emphasising the concept
of cultural routes and the value of walking trails –
something that is ignored by Mexican society.
The aim is to show that cultural routes are
a vital component of our heritage, and that they need
recognition and protection just as historical buildings
or ecological reserves do. This is why this video has
been very helpful. We use it in conferences and
presentations as an introduction to the problems, not
only as seen by the Huichol people and their culture,
but also experienced by the flora and fauna of the
region, which need to be protected. The distribution of
the video between donors and partners has encouraged its
use as part of courses and workshops regarding
conservation in Indian territories, at a federal level.
The first film was aimed at small, targeted
audiences and it works well for that purpose. However
CHAC is also aware that in order for it to have a real
impact the audiences must be larger. Therefore in our
future projects we include a second film, adapted for
TV, and translating both films into English.
Links to other sites:
Conservacion Humana
Huichol Sacred Sites and Landscapes, Mexico
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