Mayara grew up in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and Latin America. She was a teenager surrounded by millions of people, technology, and everything the modern world can offer but she still felt empty. In search of someone who could answer her questions, she went back to the roots of Brazil, to indigenous quilombolas and rural communities. On this journey, she met women who showed her how the wisdom of the past can heal the future. They are traditional midwives, healers, and community leaders. They are keepers of an ancient knowledge that we can't afford to lose. She calls them "Women of Earth."

Director's Statement

Mayara and Isadora were in their teens when they began developing this film with Katia Lund. Together they created the idea of a road trip to film with the "Women of Earth" that Mayara had come to know and document in her travels. Isadora had just graduated from film school in Sao Paulo and was helping Mayara create a foundation to connect these women. Katia, an experienced film maker (co-director of City of God), began to mentor Mayara and Isadora on their first feature film, with story, script, editing, crew and production, but the actual filming was done almost entirely by Mayara and Isadora alone.

The two young girls would travel alone to the remote areas, sleeping in the homes of the "Women of Earth" and living with them. On later trips, drones and cinematographers accompanied them. Eduardo Gripa was instrumental in the construction of a narrative; sensitive, honest and simple as the story itself. The guiding idea has always been to show the beauty of the exchange and relationship between these two generations: a generation of modern city teenagers with the traditional elders of often forgotten and devalued indigenous, quilombola and rural communities.

Category: Documentary, Festival Alum, Feature Doc.
Themes: Culture, Community, Health, Women, World Cinema.

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