Kausankamalla: As Long as We Live
Kausankamalla: Mientras Vivamos (2025)
In Postproduction
“If I can no longer fight, will you?”
Spanning years of activism, this intimate, multifaceted portrait follows Soraida Chindoy, an Inga leader struggling to protect her community’s sacred mountains from a Canadian mining company. Raising her daughter in the morning, risking her life at protests in the afternoon, became part of Soraida’s daily life. As environmental threats intensify, her demands become more urgent.
To awaken her community — many of whom are being pulled in by the mining company’s false promises of jobs and development — Soraida transforms into an Andean bear, an endangered species known in the Inga tradition as a guardian of the forest. Wearing a handmade costume, she walks through towns and villages, speaking to children — especially her own daughter — hoping to reach them before the connection with their roots is lost.
Framed through a letter to her daughter, Kausankamalla: As long as we live weaves together themes of Indigenous resistance, motherhood, and the double standards at the heart of the global climate crisis.
Co-directed by Soraida Chindoy and Karoline Pelikan
Producer: Karoline Pelikan
Executive Producer: Deborah Martin
Associate Producer: María Eugenia Lombardi
Photography: Brandon López, Soraida Chindoy
Additional Photography: Karoline Pelikan
Sound: Brandon López, Soraida Chindoy
Editing: Karoline Pelikan
Script Consulting: Nic Guttridge
Grants & Selections
2024 – UCL Global Impact Fund
2024 – Originarios LAB, Festival de Cine de Lenguas Originarias
2024 – Sunny Side of the Doc, Market participation