Antonio y Piti

Shomõtsi is a witty and engaging Ashaninka Indian, a father who has raised his children alone. A neighbor and friend of the filmmaker, he discusses the Ashaninka uses of anatto dye, cassava and of Coca. Unlike whites, he says, Indians respect coca's medicinal power. Shomõtsi and two other elders go to a neighboring city to collect their pensions. They have to set up camp overnight waiting for their money and grumble about the materialism of the Brazilian shopkeepers. After making a few modest purchases, Shomõtsi gladly heads back to the village.

The weekend life of Ashanika kids, when they go upriver to camp with their parents e learn the life of the forest.

Asháninka videomakers create a loving portrait of their own community, located in Acre, Brazil, near the border with Peru. The people organized to preserve a sustainable way of life on their forest lands, threatened by logging. Their efforts were recognized in 2007 with the Chico Mendes Prize for the Environment.