In God is a Woman, the indigenous Kuna community in Panama’s Guna Yala islands track down a long-lost documentary made about them but never shown to them, igniting poignant reflections on documentary filmmaking along the way.
Almost fifty years ago, Oscar-winning French filmmaker Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau spent a year filming the Kuna with the promise that he would share the film with the community. One of the largest remaining indigenous groups in Latin America, the Kuna are renowned for their matriarchal society and for gaining independence in the 1920s in a successful revolution against Panamanian forces.
Unfortunately, Gaisseau’s film was confiscated by the bank. The community’s attempts to access the film were denied, and eventually the film was misplaced due to bureaucratic mismanagement. It became a source of legend and infamy within the Kuna community; those who had been involved in the film passed down their stories to the younger generations, keeping the film alive in memory only.
Now, all these years later, Swiss-Panamanian filmmaker Andrés Peyrot has arrived on the scene to capture the Kuna’s renewed search for the film and explore its lasting significance to their community. The quest is spearheaded by Arysteides Turpana, a member of the Kuna community who had been involved in making the original documentary and also studied film in France.
Gaisseau’s documentary was also titled God is a Woman, although Turpana explains that the community colloquially refers to the film as “Akiko” after Gaisseau’s young daughter who had traveled with the director and his wife for the duration of filming. The community expresses mixed opinions while reflecting on Gaisseau and his approach to filming them, but it seems young Akiko struck a chord in the community and remains universally adored.
While Turpana diligently follows the bureaucratic bread crumbs that he hopes will lead to the film, Peyrot also turns his camera to other Kuna community members, such as a multi-generational family of women, and emerging Kuna filmmakers including Orgun Wagua, who collaborated with Peyrot on this film. The Kuna share recollections of the past, not only of the original film but also of their community, and offer their perspectives on current issues facing the Kuna and questions about their future.
They also discuss problematic aspects of documentary filmmaking. They question how and for whom documentaries are made, as well as consider issues around perspective, authorship and approach. The Kuna filmmakers and artists highlight the importance of being able to tell their own stories and bring their own styles to the media industry.
Concerning the original God is a Woman, many in the community recognize issues with Gaisseau’s approach to filming them but reconcile that the film nevertheless remains important as it also, for them, represents their pride in their collective identity, their independence as a people, and preserves their families onscreen. Finding the film and hosting a community-wide screening means reuniting with loved ones and savouring a special kind of coming-together.
In this story of the creation, loss, and recovery of a film that means so much to a community,
Peyrot tries to remain invisible in order to enable the Kuna to lead the film and share their stories directly; however, he’s still the elephant in the room as another outsider at the helm of a film about the Kuna community, particularly in light of the aforementioned conversations held onscreen. That said, the film is effective at remaining within the Kuna’s point of view and ensuring they hold the space.
God is a Woman marks Peyrot’s feature documentary debut. The film opened this year’s Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week section and is now screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.
© 2020-2023. UniversalCinema Mag.