Working with Dr. Camilla Morelli, an anthropologist at the University of Bristol, Animated Research travelled to the Peruvian Amazon to collaborate with local communities in co-producing animated films about biodiversity and cultural heritage.

We spent seven days in a community where we co-created a six-minute animation based on a traditional myth in which a rodent teaches a woman how to give birth.

The filmmaking process was entirely collaborative. It began with recording an elder telling the story in the local language, followed by storyboarding the narrative. Elders and young people then worked together to bring the myth to life using beautifully painted paper cut-outs created by local artist Guillermo Pemen.

By the end of the project, the community had gained the skills to produce an animated film from start to finish, as well as a completed film in their own language that they could share with future generations and wider audiences.