World Premiere at the 11th Global Nonviolent Film Festival

By Will Espero

Huni is a short documentary by Dani McCormick originally from Ireland. Her film portrays the Huni Kuin tribe of Brazil’s Amazon forest in their sustainable, natural environment away from city influences and their attached problems. 

Viewers will get a look at the life of the Huni, hear their thoughts, and experience their surroundings as they deal with outside forces and issues such as climate change and global warming. Their beliefs and lifestyle perpetuate a culture of living in peace, harmony, and love as they seek empowerment and control of their destiny. The need to protect the Amazon forest and educate others about the importance of their way of life is paramount in the film.

The work of shamans and their use of ayahuasca, a mind-altering brew, and other substances depicts a regular ritual or ceremony by adults for protection, healing, and knowledge.

Director Dani McCormick

Dani is from Dublin, Ireland. Huni is her first movie, which she filmed, edited and financed by herself, as a labor of love, over the past few years.

I was lucky enough to be the first film maker who was granted access to film this very unique tribe. I got to see how they live and also to film their sacred ceremonies. I also wanted to know what the shamans thought we needed to do to fix the myriad of challenges humanity is now facing.

While the Huni Kuin may not have the luxuries of most modern civilizations, they have something that a lot of the Western Civilization is missing – inner peace, love and community. I was blown away by their spiritual depth, intelligence and just how happy they all were.

I wanted to, at least try, to make something that felt experiential. I wanted anyone who was watching it to feel like they were in the jungle, going on the adventure too. The intention of the ceremony was to heal the world and I definitely feel the world needs more inner peace. So, even though the film explores the troubling issues humanity is facing, I want the viewer to hopefully feel more peaceful and relaxed at the end of the film.

Their music is very important to them. I have used the recording from the Ayahuasca ceremony as the soundtrack. Even though I have listened to it hundreds of times during the editing process, I could listen to it thousands of times more. I feel it really reflects how peaceful and loving they are and how much harmony they have with each other.

As a first time film maker, filming it was the easy part. Learning how to edit, craft the story, figure out the ins and outs of animation while working multiple jobs to pay for it all, was the hard part. But I feel so happy when I am making movies and I hope I get to make some more.

Dani McCormick

Huni is an Official Selection at the 2022 edition of the Global Nonviolent Film Festival, and it can be watched from September 29 to October 10 on globalnonviolentfilmfestival.com. D!