“Mateo Sobode Chiqueno has been using an old tape recorder to capture stories, songs, and testimonies of his ancestral culture since the seventies. As a young native Ayoreo, he was a victim of the violent uprooting perpetrated in Paraguay by white missionaries, who forced them to abandon their ancestral territory, their means of subsistence, their beliefs, and their home. The respectful and intimate gaze of Paraguayan director Arami Ullón infuses this portrait with poetry and humanity”. – Ruth Somalo
Trying to preserve their dying culture, Mateo traverses the arid and desolate Paraguayan Chaco, recording stories, songs, and testimonies of other Ayoreo natives who — like him — were exiled from the forest, losing their ancestral territory, their means of subsistence, their beliefs, and their home.
