concept
DIRECTOR’S CONCEPT
I would like to present the wisdom of a bygone world. In several cases the perspective of the so-called primitive folks is much more modern than “more advanced” Western thinking. Global warming and the rapid destruction of the environment cause common problems. Thousands of documentaries are being produced about this theme, and a great number of scientists have proven the very facts Native Americans have been talking about for centuries.
This film honours the wisdom of a humiliated and crushed nation. Four Souls of Coyote is an alternative and more modest creation myth, in which the human being is neither the top creature of nature nor the king of the world, but only one of all the creatures. Surprisingly, these archaic myths depict the interrelations of the world quite similarly to modern scientific results. The former represents the only alternative to a capitalist society.
With the help of the animation, I would like to tell this story in an adventurous way in order to point out that we should live an environmentally more responsible life and that we should respect Mother Nature. The film goes back to the creation of the world, when Old Man and Coyote created life from mud. His every creation is new and unknown and affects the rest of the world. Desire and emotions are unknown, and with their evolution, the world becomes more complicated.
“As long as the grass grows,” the Native Americans once said, and they meant eternity. They did not know it might be endangered in the future. Earth has tolerated everything so far but its strength is reducing quickly. We can only save it together.
ARON'S STATEMENT
Since childhood I have been attracted to native American culture, and I still am. I am also aware that the stories we read in the 80s behind the iron curtain, were inauthentic, since then fortunately more information has become available. Thanks to a friend I was lucky enough to go to Colorado to participate in a Native American sundance ceremony, and although I did not actually dance, the whole ceremony made a big impact on me.
As an animation filmmaker, I have always wanted to create animations about native tales, and stories, because surprisingly nothing previously existed. I am not including Pocahontas here. When the news about the Dakota Access Pipeline protests gained international attention I realized that what was happening there, peaceful protestors trying to preserve water, facing armed police and oil corporations, represented an important symbol. I admire those people who see clearly what is important, and stand for it, for mother earth, for water, for life.
So I was inspired by those events and I started writing a script. Fortunately Réka, the producer of the film supported the idea, and we struggled to find the funding, which was’t easy since the topic was not easy to sell. Understanding this is not our heritage, we tried our best to reach out to native people from Hungary, which proved to be a very difficult task. We
succeeded in contacting Charles Cambridge, who was involved in our script from the beginning, helping us with advice on language and visuals. We engaged several native musicians who participated in the film after reading the script. Furthermore we did the dubbing in Canada and the USA largely with Native American talents. We wanted to communicate with a foreign audience, to create a connection, to tell them a humble, different story about creation and existence on this planet.