Kali`na Games

      Installed on the coastline of the Guianas, the Kali'na have directly suffered the disastrous effects of the" encounter "with the Europeans, this deeply painful past is etched in the collective memory of Kali'na from French Guiana and Surinam bank of the Maroni. Today these people are trying to regain their place and keep their culture in Guyana.       The Kali`na Games it`s a tournament that is held in Awala-Yalimapo during two days. The persons that love sports are invited to this event under the banner of brotherhood. Therefore the Games are not only for Kali'na athletes, this edition recording a larger number of metropolitan French, working in the institutional field, creoles, bushyneges, and other Amerindians. The teams are consisting of 4 men and 4 women and 2 officials. The number of teams is limited to 20. This year was the 5th edition and it had 8 trials: • Running - Akanu• Archery - Piliwa emokili• Tug - Kulawa tincal• Pushing the canoe - Kuliyala emokili• Canoe race - Kuliyala ekanu• Launch of harpoon - Alopon emokili• Climbing the coconut tree - Wewe poko anunon• Game of the devil - Kulupi waisanpa'topo

     This year the Slips on mud (Akulu tupo akanu), was eliminated due to the large number of injuries reported last year. Also, for an athlete to participate, it was mandatory to pass a dedicated medical exam because last year games held a negative record of three hearth failures and a death during the 10 kilometers run. The documentary revolved around the Anuwana team, a former champion team consisting of 9 kali’na Amerindians and one Creole. Sometimes it was hard to communicate because of the different language and culture. Not all members where happy to speak in front of the camera.     The team won the remonter le pirogue and tire a la corde trials. They came close at the canoe race, where they won the first round, at archery, where they hit the board many times but missed the points, and at the Game of the devil, where they came second. At the end they came on third place.The filming was difficult because of the hot weather. The cameraman reported some sunburns on the back of the knees, and some headaches. Filming the archery trial was also difficult because of the mosquitoes swarm, insanely active even during the day, on the trial set.

     Also due to some bad used presumption, because of lack of space on the hard disk, the cameraman deleted some of the first recordings, thinking there where stored.Editing the movie was a very long process spiced with some breakdown of the editing software and some insanely long delays generated by the editor. He wanted to make a good edit but he didn’t know how, so he learned in the same time.Overall the documentary was a great learning experience.Cimpoeru Tiberiu.