WE EXIST IN MEMORY

The Home Collective, consisting of myself and Hailey, was first invited into this story back in 2020. We''ve been exploring the concept of ''home'' for the past several years and felt this story had the potential to reflect so many of the invisible ties we have to home and what the loss of those ties looks like. We set out to make this film with one question in mind: How do you rebuild home from nothing but memories? The creation of this film has been a true collaboration between us and our local Warao partners and participants from the genesis when they first reached out to us via Instagram. We feel deeply honored to have been welcomed into the Warao community and have built friendships that will span lifetimes. I hope the audience feels the strong bond between Maria and her granddaughter, Marucha, and the true sense of longing for ''home'' that they experience in their daily rhythms. Our team member Jose shares, “The importance of the project lies in the possibility of showing in a holistic way, the different subtle and material links that exist within the Warao people with home, the impact that these links have suffered as a result of historical invisibility, forced migration and the arrival of the pandemic outside the protection and security of the home.” As mass migration and displacement happens around the world, these questions of home resonate globally, but are first being answered through the stories of the Warao. Through this film, the Warao community will speak to the world. We plan to host community-led lectures and Q+A''s with the goal of promoting Indigenous visibility amidst displacement and Indigenous-led cultural preservation initiatives. I''ll leave you with this quote from our producer and refugee activist, Bruna: “The process of displacement, it''s about more than being displaced from one''s land because this sense of identity comes from place. Through storytelling, you can sort of weave these threads to reconnect to one''s identity, because it''s not only about being displaced outwardly, but inner displacement as well.”