Closing Gala: Iwianch, el Diablo Venado + Q&A

An enigmatic presence haunts the depths of the Amazon rainforest, where an Indigenous Achuar teenager has disappeared. During the search for the young man, his family decides to consult with a Shaman, who, immersed in a trance, reveals that the young man was taken by the devil but the Shaman has intervened by showing the young man the way back to his home. While waiting for his return, secrets of the rainforest and Amazonian visions of life after death are touched, vanishing the documentary filmmaker’s concepts of reality.

Director/Writer: José Cardoso (Cañari)
Producers: Wendy Aguilar, José Cardoso (Cañari)
Ecuador | 2020 | 91 min 
Spanish/Quechua w English Subtitles | Documentary Feature
Ontario Premiere

Availability: Canada
Content Warnings: Sexual references (not slurs) / use of substances (not illegal)

José Cardoso (Cañari) has settled in Spain, Mexico, South Africa, and currently in Ecuador, developing fiction films, animation, and documentaries on themes that revolve around surrealism, conscience, and decoloniality. His work has been selected for the RAI Pulcinella Awards, Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, Cinélatino de Toulouse, and La Habana, among others. He recently won awards at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the China International New Media Short Film Festival, 2021.

‘Iwianch, el Diablo Venado’ is an Amazonic film made by an Ecuadorian Andean filmmaker José Cardoso who comes from Cañari culture. They live in Los Andes Mountain Range, which has direct connection with Amazon, all our rivers from the mountains travels to the jungle.