The Ona People: Life and Death in Tierra del Fuego (1977)
Documentary by Anne Chapman and Ana Montes de Gonzales following Anne Chapman's work with two Selk'nam (Ona) women in the 1960s. Chapman first spent 3 months with Kiepja, a shaman woman over ninety, recording 100 shamanic and mourning chants and other rituals. Upon Kiepja's death in October 1966, Chapman began working with Angela Loij, the last surviving Selk'nam, to record the tragic history of the Selk'nam and reconstruct their past beginning with the arrival of European settlers in the 1880s.
Chapman stated in 1977, "All of us who participated in the making of this film intend that it serve the interests of peoples the world over who are presently menaced by the same sort of destruction the Onas suffered so relentlessly. With the destruction of the Selk'nam not only did we annihilate our fellow human beings, enemies of no one, but we also lost a part of our heritage forever." DER Documentary: The Ona People
