“Toroboro: The Name of the Plants Film Screening” (Council on Latin American & Iberian Studies)

Toroboro: El nombre de las plantas is a 2024 documentary directed by Manolo Sarmiento that revisits a renowned ethnobotanical study conducted at the turn of the century in the village of Quehueiri-Ono. This village, located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, is inhabited by the Waorani people. The film takes place twenty-five years after the original study, during which the central figures reunite and collaborate with members of the Waorani community to document and preserve the names of thousands of plant species, many of which are now threatened with extinction. Furthermore, the documentary provides a poignant narrative of resilience and cultural preservation by delving into the Warrant’s history: including genocidal colonization and ongoing threats from oil and timber industries.

 

Manolo Sarmiento is an Ecuadorian filmmaker, lawyer, and journalist. He serves as the co-founder and executive director of the International Documentary Film Festival, Encuentros del Otro Cine (EDOC). With a career spanning storytelling and advocacy, Sarmiento has become a prominent figure in the world of documentary filmmaking, celebrated for his dedication to amplifying diverse voices and narratives through cinema.

 

The film will be moderated by Ana María Durán, a Daniel Rose (1951) Visiting Assistant Professor at Yale. A designer, planner, and scholar from Quito, Ecuador, Durán received the Mark Cousins Theory Award in 2022 for her groundbreaking work on extractivism, the built environment, and ancestral urban ecologies. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in urban planning at UCLA, focusing her dissertation on the urban history of Amazonia, particularly indigenous systems of territorial planning and the disruptions caused by colonization. Durán also serves on the Science Panel for the Amazon, convened by SDSN and the UN, and contributed to its report with a chapter on urbanization.