This year we met with our community informants. This photo was taken in Pucara where Miguel Nina and Jose Antonio Nina Huarhua stand next to Maren Elwood and Benjamin Younkman after seeing the pilot of the film.

 

After our presentation of the film, Paula Nina (the wife of one of our key informants) invited us to have a meal in her kitchen. We were the first Americans she had even had over for dinner. It was an honor. We had boiled local potatoes and baked chicken…all while guinea pigs, ducks, chickens, dogs and cats ran under our feet.

 

In the community of Fortaleza we met with several informants, including Adrian Sallo in this photo, to show them our research report and then schedule times to screen the pilot of Stone & People.

 

What We Do: This is our third year of our production company business. We've been helping many different companies support their research with consumer documentaries. We have produced movies for websites, ad campaigns, conference presentations, and the ever popular smaller movies to embed in PowerPoint research presentations. The need for compelling, reality-based video has continued to grow and our productions are finding their way across various social media platforms.

 

Stone & People: Many anthropological research studies and ethnographic documentaries rely on anecdotal information and observation of physical ruins left by cultures that no longer exist. This is not the case at Saqsaywaman in Peru. We have been given the honor of documenting a site where living indigenous Americans (the Quecha) still occupy the site alongside the great stone ruins built by their ancestors. Our research at Saqsaywaman is designed to use ethnographic film as a collaborative tool in the hopes of bringing the management of the park and the indigenous communities together to conserve the epicenter of the Inca Empire.

 

Saqsaywaman is located just above the city of Cuzco, Peru. When most people think of Peru, they think of Machu Picchu. However, few know that the huge stones that sit atop the hill over Cuzco are what is left of the Inca capitol that was destroyed during the Spanish conquest in 1578. This site, at its zenith, was a massive five story structure built with huge, perfectly cut stones that were fit together like puzzle pieces without mortar. The archaeological work at the site it underway, but there is still much to discover.

 

Peru Team: On-Site Productions is headed by Maren Elwood, a visual anthropologist, and a team of ethnographic researchers, videographers, journalists, editors, and social media experts. This year, we will be pulling together unique teams for both our corporate and anthropological work in Peru. We encourage you to follow us on our WordPress blog where we will be posting pictures and commentary about our various projects.

 

This is the pilot for the Stone & People series we are producing. We are currently in the process of producing Episode #1, which will include the footage of our screening of the film to the Ministry of Culture of Peru and the communities of Pucara and Huayllarqocha.

 

 

Saqsaywaman is a large archaeological site above Cuzco, Peru that was the epicenter of the Inca Empire built with huge multi-faceted stones. Archeological work on this site is aimed at conservation and conflicts with resident desires to modernize their communities within the site.