The documentary La Cuenca, Ontologías del Agua, created by the artistic collective Left Hand Rotation in collaboration with local communities and environmental movements in Pucón and Villarrica, redefines the watershed not merely as a hydrological unit but as a living ontology—a space where relational modes of existence, resistance, and memory converge; in this framework, water is not a resource but a connector of beings, linking Indigenous territorialities with broader ecological struggles; the film deploys a participatory structure where each interviewee draws and links key concepts—starting from AGUA—to co-construct a relational script that mirrors the fluid interdependence of life in the territory; rooted in Mapuche epistemologies and the lived experience of those defending the Trankura basin from extractivist pressures, the narrative exposes the ontological fracture imposed by colonial-capitalist paradigms and affirms the urgency of reweaving worlds from the logic of reciprocity; Kelwe, a 10-minute spin-off, portrays the Huaiquifil family’s resistance, underscoring how the criminalization of Mapuche authorities reflects not just a dispute over land, but a deeper conflict over what counts as life and who gets to define it; screened in numerous international festivals, the film stands as a cinematic gesture of solidarity with all who, like water, resist erasure through generosity, memory, and movement.
