The Kichwa Film of Alberto Muenala and RUPAI
Welcome to the website for the Arts & Humanities Research Council funded project “Against the Grain.” This interactive site is designed to showcase research into the history of the Kichwa film community organisation RUPAI. Alberto Muenala, who co-founded RUPAI and led the organisation for many years, is one of the pioneers of Indigenous-made original language film in Abya Yala/Latin America, and their community organisation RUPAI is an active hub of film activism, intercultural education and innovative fiction content. This project seeks to address the relative lack of scholarship on the film organisation’s history and to promote academic and public understanding of their work and its importance more generally. The lead researcher on the project is Dr Peter Baker at the University of Stirling. However, this project would not be possible without the collaboration of the involvement of many others, especially Alberto and Frida Muenala and other members of RUPAI.
Recent News
- Protected: “RUPAI is researching and wants to show the world who we are, what we are, our stories, what we are capable of. Our stories also deserved to be heard.” Interview with David Gramal, 26 July 2024.
- “The greater variety of plants and flowers there are in the forest, the more beautiful it is”. Interview with Segundo Fuérez, 28 July 2024.
- Against the Grain of Mainstream Cinema. Interview with Alberto Muenala on the early years of Kichwa cinema in Ecuador
- Project Launch
Theme by the University of Stirling