Sophie and Clement Guerra share their remarkable story behind making The Condor and The Eagle.
By Amanda Lou for Winter Film Awards
See the feature documentary “The Condor & The Eagle” on Saturday Feb 22, 2020 @ 6:30 PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of New York City’s 9th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival.
In The Condor & The Eagle, four Indigenous environmental leaders embark on an extraordinary trans-continental adventure from the Canadian Boreal forests to deep into the heart of the Amazonian jungle to unite the peoples of North and South America and deepen the meaning of Climate Justice.
Directors Sophie and Clement Guerra come from marketing and health backgrounds; they didn’t intend to produce a feature film. They wanted to use their media and community organizing tools to support the Climate Justice Movement and facilitate regional and international alliances. After two years of traveling around the American continent, the duo produced 12 short videos centralizing environmental issues. Within six months, they realized a bigger story needed to be told to the world. Clement says, “As we took a step back and in hindsight, we realized that the dots connected and that these short stories, seemingly isolated, came together organically into a feature film format.” The documentary is the duo’s debut feature film.
The documentary offers a glimpse into a developing spiritual renaissance as the film’s four protagonists learn from each other’s long legacy of resistance to colonialism and its extractive economy. Their path through the jungle takes them on an unexpectedly challenging and liberating journey, which will forever change their attachment to the Earth and one another. 
Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo says, “I am very impressed with this inspiring Indigenous alliance initiative. The Condor & The Eagle is an important documentary witnessing how Indigenous people are organizing their communities around Mother wisdom”.
The Condor & The Eagle tackles complex issues in numerous regions in the Americas, issues most of the audience might be oblivious of. The film gives up the traditional documentary techniques of interviews and voice overs, instead, the story is told through unfolding action and interactions amongst characters; while it wasn’t easy to create, it was definitely rewarding. The documentary allows indigenous and impacted communities to speak in their own voices, unlike most social justice documentary films. Clement says, “Directing a film on grassroots resistance doesn’t need to be patronizing as long as we build a storyline based on the emotional journey of “normal” people striving towards achieving personal goals. Our program had to leave most of the politics aside by unravelling a tale of inner strength and inspiring courage.”
The Guerras were faced with their own privileges and realized that the pollution outside reflects the toxicity they carry on the inside. Now that their documentary will be distributed to hundreds of communities throughout the country, the filmmakers invite privileged people to follow their footsteps and join the call from Indigenous and impacted communities. 
By filming the protagonists traveling into the heart of the Amazonian forest, the filmmakers illustrate how the direct relationship between people and nature presents itself as a way out of our colonial imprint. This invites us to begin the journey towards rediscovering our natural roots.
Clement adds, “When we met Indigenous people, we quickly understood that the stakes at play are multilayered. Our film brings to light the fact that we need a cultural shift and not only a technological revolution. Many people respond to the climate crisis by looking to technology and consumer decisions.”
By focusing on Indigenous people, the documentary shows that without systemic changes in our culture and values, we will never recover from the destructive path on which we are embarked. Clement says, “Our journey through the Americas made it clear to us that intersectionality is the only path forward. When it comes to climate action it is abundantly clear that we will not build the power necessary to win unless we embed justice, particularly racial but also gender and economic justice at the center of our low-carbon policies.”
https://vimeo.com/359405536
Amanda Lou
Amanda Lou is a Fairleigh Dickinson University graduate with a passion for cinema & marketing.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 9th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 20-29 2020. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 79 fantastic films in all genres from 27 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the NY State Council on the Arts.
