Indians

The painter from Solothurn (CH) Frank Buchser was sent to the USA in 1866 to paint a large painting of the "Heroes of the Civil War" for the future Council of States Hall in Bern. Initially Buchser was busy portraying politicians and generals in the spirit of his clients. More and more, however, he became interested in the Indians expelled to the reservations and in the living conditions of the slaves who had just been freed. More

The mountain massif of Cutucú in the south of the Amazon region in Ecuador was a kind of defense against the environmental destruction for the native population but in the same time an obstacle. The people had no access to the modern world outside. The road through the Cutucú now allows mobility in order to exploit the fossil resurces but it grants the natives a way to reach the so called civilized world. The process happens in an unspectacular way. More

Birdwatchers (La terra degli uomini rossi) is a film set in Brazil, in the Matto Grosso do Sul. It depicts the breakdown of a community of Guarani-Kaiowa native Indians whilst attempting to reclaim their ancestral land from a local farmer. More

The Shuar Indians live on the western edge of the tropical rain forest, between the lowlands of the Amazon to the east and the highlands of the Andes to the west, in territory belonging to both Ecuador and Peru. "When I was still a child, my grandfather used to take me by the hand to the top of a hill. He walked with a cane, but was still strong. He said, 'This is Shuar land and the one created it is called Arútam. When I die, you children must defend our land.' These words are deeply embedded in my memory" (Antonio Chiriap, Regional President of the Shuar Federation). More