Ika Hands
Encyclopedia
Ika Hands is a 1988 film by ethnographic filmmaker Robert Gardner.
This film was made in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
of Northern Colombia
. The people in it may possibly be the only survivors of the Mayan civilization
. At an informational level the film shows the rounds of daily life while at the same time it also attempts to disclose the interior life of a leading figure in the community portrayed. This is done by using a camera in a way that Robert Gardner says, in his brief introduction, no camera has yet been designed to do. What is seen is a man who is part mystic
, part priest
, and part ordinary householder performing rituals and offering prayers in lonely and seemingly painful meditation often accompanied by his own chanting and singing. There is an attempt with this film to find a new form for dealing with not only information but with feelings and mood.
This film was made in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range apart from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. Reaching an altitude of 5,700 metres above sea level just 42 km from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the world's highest coastal range...
of Northern Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. The people in it may possibly be the only survivors of the Mayan civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
. At an informational level the film shows the rounds of daily life while at the same time it also attempts to disclose the interior life of a leading figure in the community portrayed. This is done by using a camera in a way that Robert Gardner says, in his brief introduction, no camera has yet been designed to do. What is seen is a man who is part mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, part priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, and part ordinary householder performing rituals and offering prayers in lonely and seemingly painful meditation often accompanied by his own chanting and singing. There is an attempt with this film to find a new form for dealing with not only information but with feelings and mood.