Jíibie

Forum Expanded 2020

In the Muina-Muruí Amazonian community the coca leaf is the highest sanctity. It is considered a person, not an object or product, a non-material sacred and feminine being, giving access to enlightenment. The Muina-Muruí consume the plant in the form of a green powder called Jíibie in Uitoto or mambe in Spanish to do agriculture or to fish. But its main purpose is for “the ritual of the sweet discourse”: Men gather for hours to discuss political issues. The coca “sweetens” the discourse and allows for the articulatation of complex ideas. The psychotropic substance thus becomes the basis of living together.
Jíibie focuses on the elaboration of the powder, a ritual which constitutes a rhythmic and polyphonic collective activity involving several young men: the plant is burnt, mixed with other plants, reduced to ashes and powder. The gestures of the men recall the spiritual nature of the coca entity and appear in the film as the reminiscences of a resistance that has been going on for centuries. Since the Europeans arrived the uses of coca have been repressed or appropriated. By showing the elaboration, the film intends to show an alternate and singular use of the plant that redefines our relationship with nature.

by Laura Huertas Millán
with Cristobal Gómez Abel, Pedro Armando Sopín Morales, Harold Jeferson Gomez Florez, Ciber Olmedo Morales Colombia / France 2019 Spanish, Ocaina 24’ Colour Documentary form

With

Cristobal Gómez Abel
Pedro Armando Sopín Morales
Harold Jeferson Gomez Florez
Ciber Olmedo Morales

Crew

Written and Directed by	Laura Huertas Millán
Cinematography	Mauricio Reyes
Editing	Laura Huertas Millán
Music	Lea Bertucci
Sound Design	Jocelyn Robert
Producer	Laura Huertas Millán

Produced by

Studio Arturo Lucia

Laura Huertas Millán

Laura Huertas Millán, born in 1983 in Bogotá, Columbia, is a French-Colombian filmmaker. In 2017, she completed a PhD between Université PSL and the Sensory Ethnography Lab (Harvard University). Her hybrid films have been awarded and screened at international film festivals and cinemas.

Filmography

2011 Journey to a land otherwise known; 23 min. 2012 Aequador; 19 min. 2016 Black Sun; 43 min. 2017 La Libertad; 31. min. 2018 jeny303; 6 min. · The Labyrinth; 21 min. 2019 Jiíbie; 24 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020