The Movie.
Land of the Ancient Ones is a cinematic journey into the living cosmologies of Costa Rica’s eight indigenous territories. The film listens to the land itself, as carriers of memory and knowledge.
Within our language of Transcendental Adventure, this film shifts its attention toward collective presence. Myth is not treated as folklore, but as a scientific narrative—a system through which knowledge, ethics, and survival are transmitted across generations.
The film explores how these territories sustain a reciprocal relationship with nature, revealing a form of resilience that does not rely on domination, but on balance. Land of the Ancient Ones invites the viewer into a cosmic vision where humans are not separate from the world, but woven into it. The result is not an explanation of indigenous wisdom, but an encounter with it.
Production Notes.
One of the most revealing aspects of Land of the Ancient Ones emerged not during filming, but after its release—through the responses of those who encountered it. Many viewers spoke of feeling exposed, confronted with their own ignorance about the land they inhabit and the cultures that precede them. This sensation was never accidental. The film was conceived to awaken perception to gently destabilize certainty and invite a renewed way of seeing.
The film opens space—space for questions, for discomfort, for wonder. The intention was not to educate in the conventional sense, but to provoke awareness through sensorial engagement, allowing viewers to recognize how small they are within a much larger web of time, memory, and living territory.The writing and narration were approached with the same care. Rather than functioning as a script in the traditional sense, the text operates as a thread. Several viewers expressed the desire to return to the words slowly, even outside the cinematic experience, revealing how language in the film acts not as explanation, but as an invitation to reflection.
Ultimately, these production choices shaped a work that does not seek to conclude anything. The film intentionally leaves doors open. It gestures toward knowledge rather than containing it, encouraging viewers to continue searching—reading, listening, questioning, and re-learning their relationship with place and ancestry. If the film succeeds, it is not because it answers, but because it leaves something resonating long after the screen goes dark.
Private Premiere.
“We didn’t arrive with a script—visiting Indigenous territories means moving at their rhythm, with respect for what they choose to share.”
Press
& Interviews.
In these interviews, the creators of Land of the Ancient Ones discuss the origins of The Rover's Quest and how immersive exploration within Indigenous territories transformed the project into a journey of learning, reconnection, and personal evolution.
“What started as documentation slowly became a process of personal transformation and reconnection with nature.”
Podcast "Reto Siglo 21" Interviews Juancho Otalvaro & Paula Mora.
Origins & Evolution of The Rover's Quest.
“Ancestral knowledge is not something from the past, it holds living answers to the challenges we face today as a society.”
FNA - Festival Nacional de las Artes Costa Rica
Interviews Juancho Otalvaro & Paula Mora.
Four Years of Walking, Listening, and Learning
The Heart of
the Production
This film was shaped by the awareness that these stories could not be “captured” or possessed. The production demanded a posture of listening—allowing time, relationships, and trust to guide the process. Each territory required a different rhythm, a different way of seeing, and a different level of surrender to the unknown.
Filming across multiple indigenous lands revealed a shared truth: cultural survival is an act of daily resistance. The camera did not seek spectacle, nor did it attempt to translate belief systems into simplified narratives. Colonial wounds, environmental threats, and cultural displacement are present throughout the film, yet never framed as victimhood. What emerged instead was a profound sense of dignity and continuity—a reminder that these cultures are not remnants of the past, but living expressions of an ancient future.