Woven Songs of the Amazon is a documentary film about the ancient Shipibo tradition of song patterns. The Shipibo are one of fourteen indigenous tribes living deep within the Amazon basin of Peru. Throughout history they have recorded their songs, or icaros, in a unique system of elaborate geometric designs that correlate and interact directly with the natural world. Very little is known about the connection between the icaros and the patterns that appear on everything from their textiles to their pottery, jewelry, and even body art. Woven Songs of the Amazon tells the story of this rich, colorful and ancient cultural tradition that is rapidly being lost, and the efforts by one family to preserve, protect and keep the vast knowledge of the icaros and the song patterns alive. The film focuses on Herlinda, a Shipibo elder, carrier of the song pattern tradition and the matriarch of her village. Through interviews, demonstrations, personal accounts, Shipibo mythology and beautiful footage of the Peruvian Amazon and the Shipibo people, the film shows the origin of the song patterns, what they are, how they are used, and the Shipibos’ struggle in preserving it and passing it down to the younger generations as the western world continually encroaches, threatening their culture.

















A seven part documentary series for Television
From the early 12 hundreds until 1573 when the Spanish conquered the last Inca stronghold, the Inca ruled and expanded their territory into the largest empire in history. The Inca are best known for their sophisticated, diverse and finely built roads that effectively connected the entire Empire. The main Inca Trail, spanning over 5000km was in fact a highway with it’s northern most end beginning in modern day Columbia and following the west side of the Andes mountains all the way to southern Argentina. There are also over 20 000km of Inca ancillary trails throughout the Inca highway. Many of the trails and Inca structures still remain today and have withstood centuries of massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, erosion and human conquest. Their culture survives as well in the indigenous Quichua, Quechua, and Mapuche people who still inhabit their Inca ancestor’s territory.

In modern times parts of the main Inca trail have become famous and popular as trekking routes for tourist around the world, however Laurie Gaucher and Wendy Bigcharles will be the first to attempt to traverse and film the entire length of the main Inca Trail from North to South. Promising to be an informative and adventurous series, "Traversing the Inca Empire" will trace the expedition of Laurie and Wendy beginning in Ecuador through Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina ending with their attempted climb of Mt. Aconcagua at the southern post tip of the trail. As Indigenous people of North America, Laurie and Wendy will discover and acknowledge what “the Inca way of life” was by exploring what remains of this powerful culture in this seven part documentary series.

As a television series, "Traversing the Inca Empire" promises to provide a looking glass into the ancient Inca through the spirit of exploration. From vast Andean vistas to ruins left and long forgotten high in the mountains to the faces of the indigenous Inca ancestors, through Wendy and Laurie’s eyes the world will see the Inca and discover them as they truly were.

Being produced in conjunction with Big World Communications in Canada.

Due for release October 2009. Contact us for full project proposal.
















Besides providing more than twenty percent of the planets oxygen, the biodiversity in the rainforest contains many practical uses. Much of the developed world’s diet originated in rainforests, including oranges, bananas, coffee, chocolate, potatoes, rice and tomatoes. There are some 3,000 fruits in the rainforest, only about 200 of which are in use in the Western world. Besides food, thirty percent of all modern pharmaceuticals and western medicines are originally derived from plants found soley in the Amazon Jungle, and the vast majority of the trees and plants there have never been tested. Today, the natural pharmacy of the world is under great threat by over logging, mining, agricultural production, and the oil industry in addition to a host of other industries exploiting the natural resources and chipping away at the biggest rainforest reserves on earth. The deforestation continues in Ecuador at its current rate, there will be no rainforest left in ten years.

This documentary film strives to explore and express the scope of this issue to aid in preserving one of the most beautiful and diverse places on earth.

Currently in Pre-Production.