"Metamorphosis is a documentary that follows several westerners as they undergo five Ayahuasca ceremonies and experience the gamut of emotions - from utter fear to outright ecstasy." - Excerpt from synopisis of "Metamorphosis"
Cheryl: How did you stumble upon this subject matter and what made you decide to document it?
Keith: I read an article about Ayahuasca Shamanism in National Geographic Adventure Magazine and was fascinated by it. After going down in the late spring of 2006 and experiencing five intense ceremonies, I realized this was a story I wanted to tell.
Cheryl: Who are the non-local participants and how did they initially feel about taking this journey into the unknown with you? How did they feel after their adventure was over? How many want to go back and do it again? Are you a character in your film as well?
Keith: The non-local participants are various westerners from all walks of life. As far as taking the journey with me, they were game from the get-go. If you're going to be drinking Ayahuasca, participating in a documentary is nothing. That is, if you have the courage to go through something as difficult as an Ayahuasca ceremony can be, you can easily muster the courage to be on-camera.
As far as myself, you can see snippets of me in ceremony throughout the film, but I felt others had more compelling stories to tell.
Keith: The Ayahuasceros were Hamilton Souther and Don Alberto Torres Davila. Hamilton has been practicing shamanism for approximately seven years and Don Alberto for over 33. Hamilton, is laid back outside of ceremony and can be intense inside of it. He's incredibly intelligent, and communicates extremely well with participants during the ceremony. Don Alberto is like a rock - always steady and always in control of the mesa. It is obvious that he has a vast knowledge and incredible love of the medicine. Outside of ceremony, he is a humble and unassuming man who enjoys cracking a joke or two. The two of them together create a safe and secure space in which to experience Ayahuasca.
Cheryl: What role does the Shaman play in the local community? What role does the Shaman play in the psychoactive experience?
Keith: In the local community the shamans play the role of healer, especially when western medicine may not be the best course of action. They heal people spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
In the amazon, there is a strong belief in witchcraft. The shamans have the ability to remove witchcraft from so-called victims, which is a common occurence, and so they play a key role in village life.
The Shamans play a huge role in the psychoactive experience. Without the shamans it is not an Ayahuasca ceremony.
First of all, the shamans set up the space so that the energy is clean and the participants protected. They, along with the medicine spirit guides, decides what is the right amount for each participant to drink. Once the ceremony starts, they call in the "mareacion", or visionary effects of the ayauahsca. They chant the icaros, which is what brings in the medicine spirits that work directly with the participants. The shamans have the ability to energetically "see" what is going on with the participants, and help them to "purge out dark or crossed energies. They control the flow of the whole ceremony and bring the participants to a safe and protected space when it is over- back to where they started.
Cheryl: What is the local culture and local community like? Were
language barriers an issue?
Keith: I shot the documentary at a shamanic healing center, so language was not an issue as one of the shamans, as previously mentioned, is a westerner. I also speak passable spanish, so I was able to communicate with the locals. The local culture is vibrant and alive. They seem to be much more in tune spiritually than the average westerner in that they readily believe in the world of spirit and spirits.
Cheryl: Is your documentary an attempt to preserve and share this knowledge with the world?
Keith: Yes. I think the practice of Ayahausca Shamanism is an incredible thing. I have seen firsthand the positive effect it has had on people spiritually, physically and emotionally. This is a practice and tradition that has been handed down from shaman to shaman for thousands of years, and I think it is important that it's legacy be preserved. I also think it is important to show the western world that there are other effective methods of healing than what we would consider traditional, i.e. western based medicine.
Cheryl: How important is Ayahuasca Shamanistic Tourism to their economy? How popular is it? What role does government play in this type of tourism?
Keith: I think it is fairly important as a fair amount of tourists come to the Amazon to experience Ayahuasca. Popular? From a tourist perspective, I would say it is definitely up there as far as reasons to visit the Amazon. As far as I understand, at the present, the government is relatively hands-off when it comes to Ayahuasca.
Cheryl: What was the biggest challenge you faced in making this documentary?
Keith: Doing it by myself - I was a one-man band. Filming the ceremonies without compromising the integrity of them, which I did with a camera that had night vision. And most of all, translating the experience to film, as much of an Ayahuasca experience is internal, so it took a while to figure out how to show or represent that.
Cheryl: What were the physical challenges both for the participants and you as a filmmaker at the location? Did you have equipment challenges? What type of cameras, lenses and angles did you shoot with?
Keith: For the participants the physical challenges were the nausea, usually followed by puking and sometimes diarrhea, which could both be fairly violent at times. At times your body temperature goes up as well, so having water poured on you (no drinking) to keep cool was a consideration.
For me, it was stumbling around in the dark and not stepping on anyone. I could look through the viewfinder to see, but as soon as I put down the camera and tried to see, I found out that my night vision was totally shot, so that made it difficult.
The challenge of the equipment again had to do with operating it in the dark. I also recorded audio separately as well. I basically had to learn all the important buttons, knobs, etc. blind because I was essentially working in pitch dark most of the time. Besides that, it was keeping the lenses from fogging up due to the extreme humidity. I would basically have to take the lens cap off a half hour or so before shooting, so the glass (lens elements) could acclimate to the temperature and humidity. I shot the interviews static on a tripod and the ceremony and much of the jungle handheld as I wanted those scenes to be dynamic and have life to them.
I used two HDV hi-def cameras to shoot with. One for the interviews and footage of the jungle, etc. and the other strictly for the night vision stuff in ceremony.
Cheryl: What attitudes, worldview, and perspective do you think you are revealing to us?
Keith: An open minded attitude. A worldview where things are not black and white and spirit plays a large role in everything we do, think and feel. A perspective that says this world is open to you if you are willing to take that journey. That says there are other methods to deal with someone's issues in life if you are courageous and willing to try. A Shamanistic worldview that says the spiritual world is as much a reality as this one.
Cheryl: What do you want people to take away from this documentary?
Keith: Hopefully a better understanding of what the medicine represents and what the experience of an Ayahuasca ceremony is like. It was never my goal to try and convince people whether or not the experience is "real"or not, i.e. not a hallucination, as I feel that would be a difficult, if not impossible task. It was more about sharing the experience, sharing the shamans beliefs, and showing why more and more westerners are being drawn to Ayahuasca. I leave it up to the viewers to decide how the experience resonates with them, whether they are open to it or not.
Cheryl: Where are people going to be able to see your film?
Keith: It will be at the Breckenridge Film Festival in Colorado, June 12th of this year. It will also be at the 5th International Amazonian Shamanism Conference:"The Art and the Heart of Healing" , in Iquiotos, Peru, this July, 11-18th. Besides that, there will be some screenings in NY and other areas of the country as it is accepted into festivals. There will also be dvd's available in the near future, possibly later on this summer.
Several projects are in the works. Possibly a documentary on fighting wildfires in the southwest, but I am also interested in exploring Shamanism more as well. I find Peru to be a fascinating country, one with many stories to tell. We'll see where the path leads me.
