Film shows Amazonian memory at stake in the Chiribiquete national park

When Colombian filmmaker Juan José Lozano set out to capture the mysteries of his country's Chiribiquete national park, he knew he was taking on more than just a documentary about nature.

Lozano's latest documentary — a co-production between the French-German public broadcaster ARTE and Colombia's RTVC, led by the French production company Un Film à la Patte — is the result of about four years of research and production. It aims to take viewers deep into one of the world's most inaccessible landscapes.

Through striking visuals and the voices of Colombian researchers, the film explores the significance of this Amazonian wonder for Colombia, for the Americas, and for humanity.

In an interview with CGTN ahead of the documentary's screening in China, Lozano described Chiribiquete as a "time capsule holding what might be the longest continuous pictorial tradition in human history."

Unlocking untold history 

Chiribiquete National Natural Park, in the Colombian Amazon, is home to one of the world's most important rock art sites. Its tepuis – table-top mountains – are adorned with tens of thousands of ancient mural paintings.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018, Chiribiquete contains more than 75,000 pictograms – mural paintings – that could date back as far as 20,000 years. Yet only about 10 percent of its vast territory - roughly the size of Switzerland – has been explored.

"For Colombia, it's the discovery of a huge part of our history," Lozano told CGTN. "It's proof of an extraordinary and complex Amazonian civilization, which invites us to embrace our Indigenous past."

For humanity, he added, Chiribiquete ranks among the world's greatest sites of prehistoric art. 

"It's a treasure on the same level as the caves of Lascaux in France or the murals of Huashan in China," he said.  "It's a universal library of humanity's ancestral memory, showing our timeless need to create meaning and to speak to the eternal."

A race against time 

First mentioned in explorers' writings in the 1940s, Chiribiquete remained poorly understood until the 1980s, when Colombian anthropologist Carlos Castaño-Uribe led expeditions that uncovered the first major rock paintings.

Lozano said filming only became possible after 2016, when Colombia's peace agreement with the FARC made access to the region easier. Ironically, decades of conflict had shielded the park from outside intrusion.

"The timing is both important and paradoxical," Lozano reflected. "This new situation has exposed Chiribiquete to important threats – rampant deforestation for cattle ranching, illegal crops and mining. We are at a tipping point."

That urgency shaped his mission. 

"The main goal of the film is to show the world the value and beauty of this Amazonian cosmovision, to inspire respect and the will to protect it," he said. "It's a race against time to reveal this wonder before it's destroyed forever."

Challenging colonial narratives 

Lozano is best known for his documentary work on human rights and identity. This film, while centered on environmental concerns, also questions the way history is told in and about the Americas. 

"You learn in school still today that history begins in the 15th century when European conquerors arrived and discovered a new world," he said. "It's a colonialist attitude, a violent act which denies thousands and thousands of years of culture a life."

By documenting Chiribiquete, Lozano strives to dismantle stereotypes of Indigenous peoples as "primitive".

"Simply showing the scale, the aesthetic sophistication and the narrative complexity of 75,000 paintings is a political act that demolishes the stereotype of primitive societies," he said.

But, he added, science alone cannot tell the full story. 

"The real key to understanding is to go beyond science and listen to the Indigenous communities of today," he said. "They show us that this worldview is not dead. The myth is alive, and it helps us decode the paintings. That knowledge is vital for the future of humanity."

A message for China – and beyond 

Lozano is now taking the documentary to international audiences, including China in October. For him, the connection between Chiribiquete and China's heritage is striking.

The Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape in Guangxi – a UNESCO site since 2016 – features ochre-red images painted by the ancient Luoyue people some 16,000 years ago. Lozano said their depictions of humans, animals, bronze drums, knives and ships mirror the themes found in Chiribiquete.

"We see these rock paintings as siblings to those in Huashan, China," he said. "Separated by an ocean, these two ancient cultures tell the same story of a sacred connection to the Earth. 

"In this time of ecological crisis, listening to this ancient echo of our common humanity is not about nostalgia, but an act of vital urgency."

His message to Chinese audiences is simple yet profound: "This film is an invitation to listen together."