JATUN RUMI, Ecuador — High in the mountains of the Ecuadorian Andes, a group of young Otavalo Indigenous people is using anime to inspire pride in their ancient culture and language, especially among Otavalo children.
They produced an animated short film titled ''We're Aya'' that follows the adventures of Aya, a mythical Otavalo warrior, and other characters who interact under the watchful eye of a condor — an iconic bird for Andean Indigenous cultures that symbolizes power and energy.
Inspired by the work of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, the story takes place in the mountains of Imbabura, a province in the northern Andes that is home to the Otavalo people, known for their handicrafts and textiles.
Tupac Amaru, director and producer of the 9-minute film, said the movie is part of an effort to maintain Otavalo customs and language, which began to erode as globalization created a more interconnected world and influenced their culture.
His people faced two options, ''lock ourselves out (from the world) and defend our culture, language, spirituality and clothing or stand tall and fight back,'' Amaru said.
The film with 12 Quichua-speaking characters is a first step in trying to get Otavalo children to appreciate their heritage, he said. Indigenous themes have been explored before in short and feature-length films produced in Peru and Ecuador but most of those films have had Spanish-speaking characters.
''Quichua is the vibration that gives meaning to existence and without the language, the meaning of life and our energy comes to an end,'' Amaru said.
''Our children no longer know Quichua,'' which means they have lost a communication tool and ''are losing their sense of belonging, their energy,'' he added.
