Creative Media
Film, Music & Storytelling

At Kusi Kawsay, we believe that digital media can be a powerful tool for Indigenous self-determination, cultural revitalization, and intergenerational knowledge transmission.
Kusi Kawsay has a long history of using film, music, and community documentation as tools for Indigenous education, cultural preservation, and youth leadership. Through video ethnography, collaborative filmmaking, music production, and digital storytelling, young people document ancestral knowledge while creating contemporary expressions of Indigenous identity.
Our creative work is grounded in cultural preservation and community-based education. For many years we have facilitated youth-led media projects, intercultural exchanges, and audiovisual training that enable Indigenous youth to tell their own stories in their own voices.
This work builds on a rich trajectory of collaborative productions, including Water, Maternity, and Birth, created with the University of Kentucky, Kawsay Raymi – Andean Ritual Calendar, and many more recent digital campaigns, original songs, student-produced short films, and community documentaries developed through Kusi Kawsay and the Ñawpa Ñan cultural community.

Audiovisual Program: Voices of Ancestral Memory

Our Audiovisual Program equips Indigenous Quechua youth with skills in filmmaking, sound recording, decolonial storytelling, and music production, enabling them to document and share their communities’ own narratives. Through community-based learning and exchanges with other Indigenous Nations, participants document climate resilience, food sovereignty, traditional ecological knowledge, and the wisdom of elders, transforming oral histories into living audiovisual archives that strengthen cultural continuity and collective memory.
The program’s technical and pedagogical foundation was strengthened through a successful multi-year collaboration with Unlocking Silent Histories (USH), during which a video ethnography curriculum was adapted to our Andean Indigenous worldview and community-based approach. Today, Kusi Kawsay proudly leads the program, continuing to expand opportunities for Indigenous youth to become filmmakers, researchers, musicians, and cultural leaders, while affirming that Indigenous peoples are the authors, custodians, and storytellers of our own histories.

Participant Voice

“The audiovisual program taught me that our cameras don’t just record images; they preserve the voice of the earth. Learning with Kusi Kawsay and USH empowered me to tell my community’s story from within, without anyone else speaking for us.”

— Onpash Runa Monteagudo Suma
Youth Cohort Participant, Ñawpa Ñan Cultural Community
Kusi Kawsay Association, Taray–Pisac, Peru

Onpash Runa’s short film Ayahuasca was selected for the Finno-Ugric Film Festival (FUFF) 2026 and the XVIII IndiFest – Festival de Cinema Indígena de Barcelona.

Short Films

Our films have been screened internationally as part of Indigenous film festivals, cultural exchanges, and educational events.

One milestone was the presentation of youth-produced short films at the WildFlower Playhouse in Taos, New Mexico, during the first Across the Americas – Youth-led Cultural Exchange in 2023, creating opportunities for Indigenous youth from different regions of the Americas to share their stories and artistic practices.

Featured Film
HATARIMUY (Rise Up)
Live Action | Peru | 17 minutes | Quechua & Spanish

Produced by Suni Sonqo Vizcarra Wood and Walker Hull in collective collaboration with the Ñawpa Ñan Cultural Community.

After being injured during the protests, a young Quechua man experiences a supernatural encounter that leads him to question his history, rediscover his identity, and begin a process of inner decolonization. Combining magical realism with documentary elements, Hatarimuy reflects the lived realities, resilience, and cultural strength of Indigenous peoples.

Selected Screenings & Awards

  • World Premiere — Red Nation International Film Festival
  • imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (Toronto, Canada, 2025)
  • Festival Internacional de Cine y Comunicación de los Pueblos Indígenas
  • Best Human Rights Short — Chicago Shorts (2024)
  • Social Justice Now Film Festival
  • Berlin Shorts Award (2024)
  • Semi-Finalist — Paris International Short Festival (2024)
  • Semi-Finalist — Tokyo Shortfest (2024)

Music Production

Music is another important expression of our educational and cultural work. Young artists and community members compose and record traditional and original music that strengthens Indigenous languages, celebrates cultural identity, and supports community initiatives.

Recent productions include:

  • Tupay – Benefit Album
  • HUQ SONQOLLAWAN – Single
  • Pukllay – Benefit Album
  • Niñas No Madres – Single

These productions are accompanied by music videos, live performances, and collaborative creative projects developed by youth artists from Kusi Kawsay and the Ñawpa Ñan cultural community.

Looking Forward

Through film, music, photography, and digital media, Kusi Kawsay continues to create spaces where Indigenous youth become storytellers, artists, researchers, and cultural leaders. Every project contributes to preserving ancestral knowledge while creating new pathways for cultural continuity, creative expression, and Indigenous self-determination.

Listen to music created by Ñawpa Ñan community artists and Kusi Kawsay youth:

YouTube

Bandcamp Tupay

Bandcamp Kusi Kawsay

To learn more about our collaboration with Unlocking Silent Histories and explore films created through the program, visit: https://www.unlockingsilenthistories.org

Learn more about Hatarimuy and watch the film:

Mullu.tv

Instagram