CANUTO'S TRANSFORMATION

IDFA-2023 news

     Ariel Kuaray Ortega and Ernesto de Carvalho won the IDFA Award for Best Film in the IDFA Envision Competition for Canuto's Transformation.

The director - Ariel Kuaray Ortega -  returns to his hometown to visit his grandfather in a region of Brazil bordering Argentina. For many years he's intrigued by the story of Canuto, a villager who turned into a jaguar. While speaking with locals he decided not to waste time and to make a film about the mysterious Canuto. He invites inhabitants to play themselves being driven by a myth and a mythical story about “jepotá,” the concept of transmutation between humans and animals. To be honest, this intention is constantly tested by dramaturgy, which every now and then gets stuck, getting lost in the jungle of myth. The distinction between the film crew and those of the characters being performed and filmed gradually fades. But then the narration picks up momentum again, and we are waiting for the crusifyng moment of the transformation. The nuances of daily life of Mbyá-Guaraní community are shot as if in a system of mirrors.

   While watching the film are we thinking about therianthropy - the mythological ability or affliction of individuals to metamorphose into animals or hybrids by means of shapeshifting. Are we remembering the cave drawings found at Cave of the Trois-Frères, in France, depict ancient beliefs in the concept. Yes. What we have in encyclopedia: “…The term therianthropy comes from the Greek thēríon θηρίον, meaning 'wild animal' or 'beast' (implicitly mammalian), and anthrōpos ἄνθρωπος, meaning 'human being'. Some Native American and First Nation legends talk about skin-walkers—people with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal they desire. To do so, however, they first must be wearing a pelt of the specific animal. In the folk religion of Mesoamerica, a nagual (or nahual) is a human being who has the power to magically turn themselves into animal forms—most commonly donkeys, turkeys, and dogs—but can also transform into more powerful jaguars and pumas…».

     The narration filled with numerous plot twists open also the questions of clinical lycanthropy as well as cultural enigmas. The inhabitants in their roles cry out for admiration. They have a little idea of the directors’ intentions  but with extraordinary dignity they reveal their devotion to the mythology that is diffused in the air of their native places.

     The film, co-directed with Ortega’s longtime creative partner Ernesto de Carvalho.