Impact Days Catalogue
fifdh
By Augusto Zegarra

Hakuchu Munayta

Impact days 2023 Movie
IMPACT DAYS

Fernando, a voice actor from Cusco, Peru, is trying to save his indigenous language from extinction. He dreams of dubbing the animated classic The Lion King into Quechua, the language of the Incas. His journey to achieve this will make him re-examine his role as a father and an activist, with his 8-year-old son, Dylan, as his essential sidekick.

Section : Impact Days
Country : Peru
Original languages : Quechua, Spanish
Director
Augusto Zegarra (Peru)
Producers
Paloma Iturriaga (Peru)
Claudia Chávez Lévano (Peru)
Estudio Alaska 88
Completion
May 2024
Impact Statement
We believe safeguarding a language is synonymous with preserving an entire worldview, and our documentary strives to inspire action towards this cause. Hakuchu Munayta sheds light on the fundamental access to audiovisual content in Quechua (and endangered indigenous languages globally) and other rights denied to indigenous people. Using a powerful, sometimes humorous, intergenerational story, we aim to contribute to the movement towards linguistic empowerment. We're confident about this approach: Fernando's dubbed short animated Disney clips went viral and have now become a powerful educational tool used in schools to preserve and teach this mostly oral language. Promoting the use of this language in children is critical to its future survival in Quechua and other colonised communities around the globe.
We would like to start a conversation around the urgent need to attend Quechua and other indigenous languages with films in their own language. Preserving indigenous languages and cultures is also directly connected to conservation.
Impact Goals
  1. Empower indigenous children to take pride in their culture through access to content in their own language.
  2. Raise awareness of the value found in diverse languages and cultures and how this can influence the identity of a nation. We want to help transform the image of Quechua from being the language of the oppressed to a language of power.
  3. Create an international network of indigenous dubbing artists, providing work opportunities.
  4. Support change in public policy in Peru towards the preservation of indigenous languages.
  5. Support the creation of a law that ensures content in Peru's Quechua and other indigenous languages.
Impact Strategy
  • Assemble an eco-friendly outdoor cinema that tours Quechua-speaking communities in Peru to screen our film.
  • Educate audiences through roundtables in academic and cultural spaces and national and international conferences with activists, politicians, and academics.
  • Develop an online platform where Fernando can share his work. Additionally, create a list of indigenous dubbing artists so that film industry professionals can find the resources to dub their films into Quechua or other indigenous languages.
  • Work alongside the Ministry of Education of Peru to visit schools with film and protagonists to create a conversation around language, identity and representation.
  • Amplify our impact campaign by working with indigenous social media activists.
  • Support Fernando in connecting with his local representatives to propose a new draft legislation.
Contact
Primary contact
Claudia Chávez Lévano (Peru): produccion@alaska88.com

Funders
CMP – Chicago Media Project
ChileConecta
Festival de Cine de Lima
Ministry of Culture of Peru
Sundance

Others
5 Stick Films – outreach to Indigenous organisations
GLAFF – Guadalajara Film Festival in LA
Swiss Embassy in Peru
Various Quechua artists (e.g. Renata Flores, Liberato Kani)

Funders
CMP – Chicago Media Project
ChileConecta
Festival de Cine de Lima
Ministry of Culture of Peru
Sundance

Others
5 Stick Films – outreach to Indigenous organisations
GLAFF – Guadalajara Film Festival in LA
Swiss Embassy in Peru
Various Quechua artists (e.g. Renata Flores, Liberato Kani)