Por que não o paraíso? - Documentário com Marsha Hanzi

Sky & Earth presents A Laura Tamiana film Codirected by Tatiana Devos Gentile Why not the paradise? Marizá, Bahia drylands, Brazil My name is Marsha Hanzi I was born in the USA I have always had a strong connection with the nature, the trees I spent my childhood climbing up the trees When I was a child, I read a book, “The secret garden” That told the story about a beautiful garden in the middle of a harsh landscape in England A cold and grey landscape And within myself this image of a garden was pictured And as I was growing older, I got to know the Permaculture And through the Permaculture, I have learnt how I could make a garden anywhere So my idea was to make a garden of Eden On top of a bad land, in the draught lands with a bad climate, it was a great challenge to show everyone that it was indeed possible to make a garden of Eden, a paradise anywhere in the world I think that was when we started in 2003, wasn’t it? Yes, that’s right, on my arrival When I arrived, it was pure sand the land had been weeded when they stopped weeding the little bushes remained This cajueiro tree, we named it Grandma Yes.

. . And here it is Grandpa, do you want to see it?

This is Grandpa. I don’t know why… “He” is tall, seems to be impressive . -It’s true.

-This is me, here. This is the entrance Here it could be the entrance gate Isn’t it? Getting in, when we came this way -It’s beautiful now, isn’t it?

It makes a beautiful curve. -Yes. People think it might have been tough We have worked hard and on the first year we have lost work as well Nothing would grow.

. . But it was good fun, a great pleasure to see a place that was practically dead then slowly have its life back Each year was becoming better Without farmers, there is no food People are not encouraged to become farmers neither in the schools nor in their families, isn’t it?

Even here the farmers encourage their children to do other jobs Because it’s a tough life The soil degrades fast in the way agriculture is done Each year it gets worse But in a place where things get better every year It creates a sort of spiral of growth…this inspires us. I am. .

. Sebastiao Dias de Jesus, I am 40 years old And have worked at Epicentro in the past 9 years. I really enjoy working with everything here with the animals in the field and with people Like Preta, Jo, Luis Carlos.

. . Whenever people arrive Sometimes I think “Oh God, how is that possible?

. . .

” Marsha coming from far, she arrives here and gives me this opportunity I have always enjoyed playing with animals, And now there are many more animals to play with and look after them in a very caring way In my childhood I used to imitate animals all the time My mother would say: “go to bed boy! ” And I would be imitating the bull, the pig, the cow. .

. all of them, the horse, the little bird. .

. This place helped me have my eyes open and run after my dream I think without the Epicentro, my eyes were closed Now I realize they are much more open In the Epicentro What was a garden for us? It was to tidy things up and look at them as a garden… However I think the whole Epicentro is a garden.

With flowers, all that is a garden A garden is not only what you make, is it? Here is a complete garden with a great variety of flowers I think it’s important that you believe that any land can be a garden It is really important. This planet has everything that is necessary to be a garden Even the cities could be a great garden, why not?

People at Permaculture say that all the big problems of the planet could be sorted out in a garden It sorts out hunger. . .

It sorts out pollution because you plant… You don’t buy things from a polluted system. . .

It sorts out depression, because a garden is joyful and beautiful. . .

It even sorts out relationships when they are in the garden and people don’t argue. . .

Everything can be sorted out in a garden, can’t it? The paradise is a garden. The word paradise comes from the Persian paradiso And paradiso in Persian means garden So the paradise is a garden If we are transforming this planet into a garden we are transforming this planet into a paradise And this planet has everything to be transformed into a paradise All can be reversed Even the desert can be reversed All can be transformed in paradise If we transform our agricultural methods in a garden in a larger scale this method is like what the Permaculture and Agroecology propose That the planet can become a garden.

Why not? If it’s possible, why don’t we do it? It’s possible.

It’s good fun, it’s joyful. My name is Maria Joseny Everybody knows me as Preta I was born here in Marizá at my grandma’s house I work here at the Epicentro as a cook Do you know how this plant is called Samylle? – Yes – You know!

How? Cow’s tongue – Cow’s tongue? – Yes.

. . This one?

This one here I don’t know Do you know why I am picking these plants? – Yes, I do! – You do!

For what? To prepare a stir fry for the breakfast These big leaves Badroega, cow’s tongue. .

. Parsley and gregoriana From these green plot things we can make a stir fry and corn couscous from here the palm is also a veggetable with the palm a green juice can be made things like that. And cook the ordinary ones: beans, rice, meat.

. . We sometimes add to them a bit of the green juice Good idea!

That’s rich in minerals Here without the Epicentro could not be Marizá anymore it’s very. . .

I can’t even explain it We can’t imagine it My life has changed Therefore the way I think has changed My life is completely different from how it used to be Before I used to believe a lot I believed but not like I do nowadays Today, if I think “Ah! That’s it”, I will focus on it I know it will happen, it will work! A year ago we were sitting here and drinking tea while it was raining We were talking about the cisterns… Me, Sandra and Laura “Imagined if each one of us had a cistern?

”… And here it is! My name is Josélia I was born here in Marizá, 48 years ago To prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner when there are larger groups When there aren’t, I just come to prepare breakfast and lunch And I also like it Some people ask me: how can you stand it? You have spent your whole life in your kitchen, now you go to Marsha’s No, it’s different.

Because I come here to prepare the food but it is really fun when the groups are around But even when there is no one, if Marsha is travelling I come alone or with the kids It doesn’t make any difference You could also make a Mexican recipe today, couldn’t you? So you can learn the recipe I was asking if there is corn flour to make tortillas There is this one that we use to make couscous. Have a look Ah!

Maybe. If it works, it will be great. I would love to learn how to make tortillas In Guatemala we used to buy them.

We would wake up early and hear – The neighbor. . .

– How beautiful! So then we didn’t have to learn how to make them You add a hint of salt, half of wheat flour, half of corn flour add a bit of water Then stir And each day there is a person coming from a different place We learn a lot Each one coming from a different country, they have different habits Even without leaving here, we get to know a bit of other countries It is a magic place Sometimes I come to work. .

. and not always we are feeling good, you know Sometimes we can be feeling tired But as soon as we get here, everything is different You feel this is a place where you actually feel good The people that arrive here, so many of them, we can see they come from the big cities they bring their tiredness along And within a couple of days, you feel that person has changed I think this is a magic place When I started here, I had 4 aims First one, to be a good neighbor, a useful neighbor And here should be a healing place To heal the actual place, to heal the people that come here to heal this whole area and to heal the planet I aimed we had a multidimensional life experience Without setting apart the sacred hours of the laboring hours That the sacred could walk along with the life, spiritual life Because we are complete as human beings We have the physical, emotional, mental and the spiritual sides And it is not healthy when we force the people to work without including the spiritual side The fourth aim was to develop a system of semi-wild food production So we then acknowledge the intelligence’s existence That the system is intellingent That there is an intelligence that coordinates everything That we are able to communicate with this intelligence To access informations and work in collaboration with the nature We can work along with the nature instead of imposing things or be imposed to doing things The people that come to Marizá experience magical things Information that comes… From inside, your own voice can be heard… These cajueiro trees have lived for centuries… they are great masters here People can access the deepest being inside this tree My name is Alexandra, everyone calls me Sandra I was born here in Marizá I work here at the Epicentro, I do the cleaning And also the mosaics Marsha always used to tell me what she would make here, I didn’t use to give much importance And one day she said: “The man is going there in the afternoon to do the mosaic… . .

. go there, have a look so you can keep doing that later. ” Nowadays it is like this.

. . I do thank her a lot because I love doing it It’s one of the greatest passions of my life.

I appreciate the soil very much… I wonder how the soil gives us good things. . .

Even now while I am eating this watermelon. . .

How can the soil provide something so good like this? I like it very much, but to work with it. .

. I have worked a lot cleaning beans and corn in my farm. There was no electricity, we had a radio with batteries.

. . we used to listen to the podcasts.

. . At 4am my dad used to go and milk the cow We used to have a fight to listen to the radio It was like this.

. . at the dawn.

. . We had a rota for who was to keep the radio, I had it in my arms still in bed I would listen to it and I was very curious wondering how a person could be talking inside that little radio So I’d say to myself: “ah, one day, it’s me inside the radio!

” Hello, hello, beautiful people, lovely people of my heart A big hug and have a good day From now onwards we are starting Yours, mine, our podcast “Wake up, Marizá”. Whose voice is Alexsandra Straight from Marizá, little village in the county of Tucano, sertao of Bahia Have a listen Our programme has lots of good news We will have our tasty moment With Jo teaching us special recipes It will be mouth-watering! You will also listen to Tiao’s advices He will teach you how to make a compost There are also natural beauty recipes, Ecological tips and much more Wake up, Marizá!

My name is Luiz Carlos I live here in Marizá, I work at the Epicentro I come from a farmers family I am a farmer and intend to be one This is my future! I like to work with everything that involves the soil Such as planting, harvesting. .

. Observing the plants growing. .

. Seeing them coming up. .

. I really appreciate that. We are farmers But we are not really aware about fertilizing the soil Marsha on the contrary Is much more concerned about.

. . fertilizing it, keeping it covered We don’t have, we didn’t have this awareness Nowadays, it makes much more sense for me, you understand?

The thing is about knowledge exchange I think she learns with us, we learn with her And I think this in essential. Exactly, when the soil becomes better. .

. Shall we add more calcium here, shan’t we? I think I would like to study more about this subject Search for more knowledge Be better informed, search for new things.

Couldn’t we make a core here inside, Marsha? a pumpkin seeds core - You just add manure - Yes, just add the manure inside We can plant a bunch of fuxico and. .

This and this. . .

This month is very short Here we have a great variety of work Which is quite calm Joyful You don’t get bored, there is always something different to do And that’s the good side, you are never repeating the same thing It’s not a repetitive routine, you know? Some people, not everyone, but a few see the farm… and the soil as a bad thing And they are the ones that provide us everything Wherever you do, it belongs to the earth, doesn’t it? Everything!

Even a thing that we think it’s not that, but yes, it is Like a rock in a city, we don’t think it belongs to the earth, but it does There’s no where it can go And people don’t value the earth enough Or they are faithless, have bad thoughts… They think it’s tiring, that is not gratifying But if we are clever enough to plan things ahead to make it work smoothly, with more pleasure we will probably have a better thought of the earth Because the feeling of planting, harvesting and eating healthily. . .

is really important for us People sometimes are not aware of that They think it’s better to be stuck in an office Because they think it’s more glamorous, you understand? I am the opposite I respect people’s work However people should learn how to value more the earth I think the humanity is tired Humanity for me is male. .

. It’s tired of the ugliness The humanity is missing its garden It’s missing the times when we used to live integrated with the ecosystem When we used to collect what the ecosystem offered us We are missing the beauty And the good fragrancies. .

. ! Our cities are ugly!

The humanity is tired of war It’s tired of pollution It’s tired of wearing a tie and work 8 hours a day I think the tiredness is so widespread that all these ugly things are putting us on the edge of a turning point, isn’t it? So if I want to leave a legacy and a message for the humanity it is that you already know what you are born for You already know what you want to do And if you don’t know, do a thousand things and you will find out, yes? Go after your dream, right?

What’s the meaning of waiting till you are retired To then finally do what you were born for? Why not start with your dream now? If you pursue your dream with faith and conviction All is revelead to you There is an important energetic law that is strengthened when you look at it When you focus on it, you make it stronger You focus and believe the present is eternal if you see this ugly thing, the pollution, if you believe in the nasty, you lend your energy to that and that will be strenghthened But if you believe it can be different You focus, that’s what I do, you know?

And you see it, you believe it’s possible and you make this possibility stronger If you pursue your passions, it will always go well Full stop. Filmed at the Epicentro Marizá, Marizá village, county of Tucano Sertão of Bahia, Northeast of Brazil, April 2013 and June 2015 Directing, editing and photography: Laura Tamiana Codirecting and editing: Tatiana Devos Gentile Script: Laura Tamiana and Tatiana Devos Gentile, in collaboration with Marsha Hanzi Soundtrack: Marco França Sound editing, mixing and mastering: Estudios Megafone / Eduardo Pinheiro Last track: “Andar Irei” by Helder Vasconcelos Radio Podcast from Sky and Earth, visual arts under the tree Final color art: Rafael Amorim – JacaréVideo This film is part of the project Sky and Earth With: Participants: Thanks to: Special thanks to: Existing places like the Epicentro Marizá around the world for its regenerating potential and for what they can cultivate in their earth and within ourselves. Marsha Hanzi is a pionner of Permaculture in Brazil.

Find more about her work and the Marizá Epicentro of Culture and Agroecology at: www. marsha. com Sky and Earth is a visual arts project created by Laura Tamiana when she encountered Epicentro Marizá, and also other similar initiatives around the world.

Find more at www. projetoceueterra.