Though Quechua is considered an endangered language, it continues to exist – not only in Peru (and other Andean countries) but also in immigrant communities around the world, like in Seattle. Away from the homeland this language faces unique challenges as it competes with many more languages in the homes of Peruvians and Peruvian-descendants. Nevertheless its presence around the world might also help renew interest in the language.
Goal
Tell the story of a very small and dispersed community of Quechua speakers in the Seattle area and how they keep their mother language alive.
Challenge
Besides the challenge of editing hours of material down to 6 minutes, another big challenge was allowing the story to develop naturally while also maintaining a clear view of the focus for the documentary.
Solution
This topic is so complex that it’s easy to try to include many underlying details and run the risk of not having a clear story. We constantly checked the developing story against the intended focus of the project and ask “what is this story about?” Developing pre-production documents helped maintain the story clear as well.
Results
Our video was able to tell several family’s stories and cover a complex and extensive topic in just 6 minutes. El Comercio (a major Peruvian newspaper) published an article about this video and its sister project and the video reached over 2,000 views within a few weeks.
Where it was screened:
- Barcelona Planet Film Festival, Barcelona (Feb 3, 2016)
- Miami Independent Film Festival, Miami (Feb 5, 2016)
- Mother Tongue Film Festival, Washington DC (Feb 2018)
- International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation: Connecting Communities, Languages and Technology – Honolulu (Mar 2, 2019)
- May Sumaj Film Festival – New York (June 2019)
- Vancouver Latin American Film Festival – Vancouver (August, 2019)
