Tarcila: Indigenous Solutions to Climate Change from Peru

TARCILA is a short documentary that introduces viewers to activist Tarcila Rivera Zea, a Quechua elder fighting for indigenous rights in Peru. Zea’s lifelong efforts to empower her people are growing increasingly crucial, as the weather becomes unreliable and climate change raises the stakes.

Rainfall patterns in Peru are becoming increasingly erratic. For local subsistence farmers, the resulting droughts and surprise floods have spelled disaster for their lives and livelihoods. Many of the men from the villages have already left home to earn extra money working in the cities, leaving the farm and housework up to the women.

These women are the mothers, wives, and children who Zea champions through CHIRAPAQ, an economic empowerment organization she started in 1997. The Lima-based NGO focuses on finding sustainable solutions to climate change and fighting for their rights to traditional food and farming practices.

TARCILA takes a solutions-based look at climate change, and focuses on what ideas are working best for indigenous farmers in Peru. Zea is the hero of this story, and her journey demonstrates the potential power of including the examples and voices of women in the global response to climate change.

  • Sarah Kuck
    Director
    Even the Walls, Retornados
  • Sarah M Kuck
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Peru
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital (Canon C300)
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cine Las Americas
    Austin, TX
    United States
    July 26, 2020
    World Premiere
  • Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
    Santa Fe, NM
    United States
    October 14, 2020
    New Mexico Premiere
    Audience Award for Best Overall Short
Director Biography - Sarah Kuck

Sarah Kuck is an Austin-based director, editor and cameraperson. She has spent the last six years honing her filmmaking skills by collaborating on a variety of documentary, narrative and commercial projects. Her first documentary, EVEN THE WALLS, co-directed with Saman Maydani, won best short film at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2015. In 2016, she worked as an associate producer and camera operator on the feature-length documentary FEEL RICH: HEALTH IS THE NEW WEALTH, now streaming on Netflix. Additionally, she worked as the development coordinator for the award- winning documentary TOWER, which broadcast nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens and is now streaming on Netflix. In 2017, she worked as the co-director and director of photography for RETORNADOS, a short film on asylum-seekers escaping violence in Honduras. The film was sponsored by a grant from the International Women’s Media Foundation, and is currently screening across Texas in partnership with the non-profit Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, RAICES. She holds a master’s degree in media studies from The New School, and a bachelor’s degree in environmental journalism from Western Washington University.

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