Truká: In The Name of the Enchanteds | Documentary

by Thomas Toivonen
(Skinnskatteberg, Sweden)

This is a documentary that I have made about the Truká people that live in the northeast of Brazil. They began to identify themselves as such in the 1940s. These people have fought hard to retake their lands as well as their indigenous identity. Because, as many other indigenous people they have been submitted to heavy colonization.

Now again, they are facing a direct threat to their indigenous landbase with the controversial transposition project on the São Francisco river, on which their island Assunção lies. The river is already weak because of several dams and it no longer can provide its people with fish.

Being someone who is very concerned about the environment and indigenous cultures this was an ideal project for me. The way that I came in contact with the Truká was via professor Loreley Garcia who is doing a project with them. The way that I got in contact with her was via a mutual friend. Networking is a very important part of my work as an independent film-maker.

Background | How I Made The Documentary

Since I wasn't able to raise any money I had to borrow money from my mother and finance the whole project by myself. I got help from two university students with translations when I was visiting the Truká people since I don't speak any Portuguese.

My equipment for the project was a Nikon D5100 system-camera and a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder for the sound. I edited the film on my computer which got a little complicated because I was editing in HD and I used Sony Vegas Pro 9
. But I have to tell you. Sony Vegas has a serious bug that I noticed when I was rendering the film. It crashes when it need over 2 GB in ram-memory. I managed to solve it with using information from other people with similar experiences.

Basically you download an app and follow the instructions. If you google it you will find the information since I don't remember the details of it. However if someone wants to know I can check with my other computer. I am using my laptop for the internet and my stationary computer for editing because I don't have a anti-virus program installed to free as much work-memory as possible. Therefore I don't want to risk the computer I am editing on by being online.

I am using mainly the internet (youtube. email-lists, facebook, twitter etc.) for distributing my film and I have also sent it to different film-festivals.

Truká - In the name of the Enchanteds Documentary