AN award-winning documentary centring on the life of an indigenous tribe in a remote part of the Amazon jungle and their concerns about climate change will be screened at the Gate Multiplex next week as part of the IndieCork film and music festival.

Huni, a 30-minute documentary which was filmed, edited and produced by emerging Irish filmmaker, Dani, explores the Huni Kuin’s daily life, philosophies and challenges.

Dani’s documentary also shows the tribe’s special Ayahuasca ceremony which they engage in every Saturday.

Born and raised in Dublin, Dani has been living in California for the past 13 years but has now returned to Ireland to begin work on her first feature film.

Before the pandemic, she went to live with and film the Huni Kuin.

“The last time that anybody had been in the tribe was in the 1970s. A German photographer/ explorer had gone to live with the tribe,” Dani told The Echo.

Living with the Huni Kuin for a week was an eye-opening experience for Dani who described the tribe as “deep, profound and super spiritual”.

“They’re all in sync with each other, they don’t really have to talk that much to each other, they just know what the other one is doing and the whole thing is that, in the western world, we live in our ego which is all about ‘me’ but when you live in a tribe... it’s all about the ‘we’.

“It’s a completely different thinking,” she continued.

The Huni Kuin, she said, are deeply concerned about the effects deforestation and climate change is having on the Amazon.

After the pandemic she said the village was “destroyed by a massive flood”.

“They are high up in the jungle – this kind of flooding has never happened before,” she explained.

Although “practical solutions” are required to address climate change, “shifting consciousness” is also key, Dani believes.

“For me, the biggest thing is shifting consciousness… the movie, even though it’s a climate change movie, it’s trying to be hopeful in saying whatever the problem, love is the solution and everything that’s going on, if we all move from our head to our heart, that will fix a lot of our problems.” 

Huni, Dani’s debut film, has already been selected for 12 film festivals and has won ‘Best Documentary’ at two international festivals.

It will be screened on Friday, October 7 at 6pm at the Gate Multiplex during the ‘Irish Documentary Shorts 2’.

• Tickets are on sale now via Gatecinemas.
• To find out more about IndieCork see their website.
• More information about Huni can be found here.