We, the Manoki and the Myky, speak the same language with slight variations (the Manoki have the “L” in their language and the Myky do not, for example), just like our origin stories, our gardens and our rituals. We have small differences, variations that complement each other, and our coexistence makes us learn more from each other, whether through cooperation or even competition – as in our head ball games, the ãjãli or ãjãi. Our ancestors lived in a large set of autonomous villages very close together and visited each other constantly to marry, exchange, play games, give gifts and be together. With the arrival of the Kewa, who invaded our territories with great violence, our people moved away because they had to flee from the threats. The Manoki had to seek refuge in a Catholic mission from 1948 to 1968, where they learned a lot about the world of “whites”, while being forbidden to speak their language and practice their rituals. They never forgot their relatives who fled north and looked for them until they were reunited in 1971.
Since then, all of us have gradually reconnected, and we have different strengths that complement each other: the Manoki know a lot about the Kewa world and have helped the Myky in various political situations, while the Myky know a lot about the Kewa world. spirits and our ancestors and help the Manoki with indigenous rituals and festivals.
In this way, the recent learning of cinema is another type of relationship that brings us together and makes connections between our communities. Although the Ijã Mytyli collective became a reality in 2019, long before this union in a single group of filmmakers from both peoples, we were already doing our work separately. Recordings of events began in the Manoki people in 2009, when they resumed the boys' initiation ritual, a very important work with our Yetá spirits. Those were the first records made by some people from the Manoki community, which currently make up the Coletivo Ijã Mytyli de Cinema Manoki and Myky, such as Marta Tipuici Manoki, a teacher and director from the 13 de Maio village.
In the beginning, we had a job of convincing the elders to make audiovisual recordings. We encountered a lot of resistance from them, because in our culture, in the old days, nothing material could remain from those who have died, all the belongings of the deceased were buried with them. The old men explained to us that this was to keep the living from becoming too sad. They also claimed that there are many events and knowledge that cannot be recorded or passed on to those who are not part of our peoples. With a lot of conversation and explanation, both on the part of the leaders and the younger ones, we reached agreements, which establish how far our cameras can go, what we can and cannot record.
In 2016, the Myky began filming their community, with the resumption of the ãjãi parties, which bring the Manoki together in a great competition. At the initiative of Typju Myky and other young people in the community, the records began to be made and soon they got their own camera to make the recordings. Both in learning with the camera by the Manoki in 2009, and by the Myky in 2016, an ally has always been close and has helped us every year on this journey. His name is André Lopes or Tupxi, he is an anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, he is part of our families and facilitates our work.
In 2019, we started a conversation between young Myky and Manoki to seek a rapprochement, based on Typju Myky's idea of unifying the collectives. After many conversations between the interested groups, these two teams decided to hold a meeting in the Paredão village and consolidate the idea on February 18, 2020. It was there that we created the collective. Thinking that we are using what is considered a new or “modern” tool for us, we are reinventing the ways of narrating our history, understanding that through technology we can also do this.
Coletivo Ijã Mytyli de Cinema works with records according to the interests of our communities, as we understand that this tool is another force to spread respect and knowledge between different cultures and register our knowledge and values for future generations.
