Back to nature: the story of one family’s retreat into the Amazon forest to escape Covid

New film charts the journey of the Kichwa people deeper into the Ecuadorian Amazon and the lessons they drew from reconnecting with nature

As billions of people isolated around the world in 2020, villagers from Sarayaku , a Kichwa community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, headed deeper into the forest to escape the coronavirus pandemic. The journey, documented in a new short film called The Return, reaffirmed the bond the community has had with the forest for generations, protecting ancestors from missionaries, militias and emerging diseases such as measles and smallpox, as well as sustaining life.