Dylan Bird is joined by filmmaker Dan Jackson to chat about his new documentary Death of a Shaman. Dan tells Dylan about his decades-long experience developing connections with the Indigenous communities of Amazanga, telling the story of a shaman’s practices and lineage, recreating the experience of ayahuasca, and the resistance against postcolonial violence in Ecuador and the Amazon jungle that backdrops the story.

“I think what makes this film quite special is that [the indigenous community] had a very strong hand in the creative development of the film. The central storyline of the shaman passing down his ancestral wisdom to his grandson Jordy was pitched to me by the community – they saw, in many ways, my camera as a way of preservation.”

Death of a Shaman premieres as part of Melbourne International Film Festival on August 9.

Photo credit: Melbourne International Film Festival.