This is a compelling and thought-provoking film. It may touch your heart deeply — it certainly did mine.
— Br. Shankara

Aluna means “conscience.” This documentary film was made by and with the Kogi, an ancient people who have otherwise remained pretty much apart from Western civilization. They live on an isolated triangular pyramid mountain, nearly five miles high, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, on the Colombian-Caribbean coast. 

The Kogi believe they are here to care for the world and keep its natural order functioning, but they recognized some years ago that this task was being made nearly impossible by rampant, careless mining and deforestation. Kogi elders teach that without thought, nothing can exist. For them and for us, that gives rise to a two-part problem: resource exploitation is not just plundering the world, the carelessness is also “dumbing it down.” Both the physical structure of the planet and the very thought underpinning existence are being destroyed. Kogi elders invited Alan Ereira, a British author, historian and documentary filmmaker, to work with them. Together they made a 90-minute film for the BBC, which dramatically warns of our need to change course. Then th Kogi elders withdrew again…

Aluna had a stunning global impact, and is now probably the most celebrated film ever made about a tribal people. (Introduction adapted from http://www.alunathemovie.com/)