Lost Tribe Warning & Hope In Free ‘Aluna’ Documentary

Sedona AZ (March 30, 2016) – On Thursday, April 14th, at 6:30 PM, The Inspiration of Sedona, will present Aluna, an astonishing film about saving the planet, from the indigenous Kogi people of Northern Colombia. See trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecoonOVWBc8. David Warr, co-founder of the ChocolaTree restaurant in Sedona, who is one of a small handful of people that have been allowed to visit the Kogi, will be present for Q&A. 

This “message from another world,” is returning by popular demand after it was initially shown as part of two weeks of local Climate Care Awareness events (www.climatecareawareness.org) in conjunction with the global actions surrounding the December UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris. 

Twenty-six years ago, Alan Ereira’s influential BBC television film, From The Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers’ Warning, brought global attention to the Kogi people of Colombia, a remote and ancient South American civilization determined to caution us about environmental damage to the earth. A true ‘lost civilization’ who regard themselves as the guardians of the earth, the Kogi once traded with the Mayans and Aztecs but survived the Spanish conquests by retreating into their isolated mountain massif, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. 

Having remained hidden for centuries, the Kogi surfaced in Ereira’s original 1990 film with an environmental message that was ahead of its time, a warning about how we, their ‘younger brother,’ were destroying the ecosystem by plundering the earth’s natural resources. But, despite this warning, the Kogi have continued to see destructive changes to their homeland as highways and power plants continue to spring up, with glacial melt, ferocious storms, landslides, floods, droughts and deforestation continuing to take their toll. 

Now, two decades later and convinced that their message has gone unheeded, the next generation of Kogi are reaching out to the world once more with a much more specific warning about the future of the planet. Filmed over three years, this ambitious feature-length documentary project initiated by the Kogi, with footage filmed by them, is the authentic voice of an indigenous people. 

The film presentation will be followed by a Q&A session that will provide a unique opportunity to talk with David Warr, co-founder of the ChocolaTree restaurant in Sedona, who had the very rare experience of spending time with the Kogi. 

This film is a lead up to the upcoming Inspiration of Sedona events that will take place in April and May, in conjunction with Earth Day. These will include a major theatrical release of the film, Love Thy Nature, on Friday, April 22nd, at 3 pm, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, with Q&A and a nature-connected walk afterwards, with Dr. Sailesh Rao, Executive Director of Climate Healers (climatehealers.org), who is also the co-executive producer of the film, Cowspiracy. This will be followed by an afternoon of entertainment and education at the Sedona Recycles Earth Day Fair on Saturday, April 23rd, and Dr. Rao will be there too. On Sunday, April 24th, the first film of the four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground, will be shown at the Sedona Public Library, at 6:30 pm, followed by a discussion with the director of the film, Toby McLeod. Subsequent films from the Sacred Ground series will be shown at the Church of the Red Rocks on Thursday, April 28th and May 12th, at 6:30pm, with the final showing date and location TBD. And on Saturday, May 21st, at 7 pm, a free showing of Cowspiracy will take place in Brady Hall at Verde Valley School, and co-executive producer, Dr. Sailesh Rao, will also be present for Q/A after the film.

The Inspiration of Sedona meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. It is an open meeting group that strives to work together collectively for the betterment of ourselves, our communities, and the world. Its current format involves showing inspiring and personally empowering documentaries about the social and environmental issues we’re collectively facing, followed by interactive discussion. 

Please be a part of the inspiration in watching the free Aluna film, and talking with David Warr on Thursday, April 14th, at 6:30 PM, at the Church of the Red Rocks, 54 Bowstring Drive, Sedona, and discover together ways to live lighter on our planet. For more info:

email: inspirationofsedona@gmail.com