Keith Heyward

It has been 3 years since our documentary film, MIWENE, first premiered and it has since screened in many indigenous communities across the Waorani territory and the Amazon. After being showcased in film festivals in Europe, South America, Canada, and across the US (and winning a few awards too) you can now finally watch the full feature-length documentary online! Best of all, any contribution you make to watch the film goes directly to the Waorani community of Kewediono, who have worked so hard on making this film a reality over the past 14 years. Go to MIWENE.com/watch @cineindifest @cinelasamericas @roxfilm @cuencafestival @clacpi @festivalecoador @weengushkfilmfest @greenpointfilmfestival @chainfilmfest @capcityfilmfest @mullu.tv @kanuafestival @molaa.art @diy.filmfest

I finally made a website for myself a couple months ago. It’s called HeyKeith! Films It’s got a small collection of some of the projects I’ve worked on over the past decade.

Coming soon… Cine Las Americas International Film Festival June 11 @ 3pm @ Galaxy Theater in Austin, TX

6 day timelapse of blooming Queen Of Night Cactus (epiphyllum oxypetalum) with one of my favorite songs from Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek “I Still Hear You”

We won Best Documentary Feature @greenpointfilmfestival Thanks to everyone who worked on this film over the past 12 years, especially the Waorani people and the community of Kewediono, and all of their filmmakers, storytellers, singers, scientists, and knowledge keepers who helped make this film and made it worthy of an award. Thank you to @kellymoneymaker and @drumsongfilms for coming all the way from Alaska to share such an important film. It was truly an honor to see our film play next to yours and to share the Q&A stage with you and hear your experience. I wish our Waorani filmmakers, Anita and Obe, could have been there to meet you. ……….. ¡Ganamos el premio al Mejor Largometraje Documental en el @greenpointfilmfestival ! Gracias a todos los que trabajaron en esta película durante los últimos 12 años, especialmente al pueblo Waorani y a la comunidad de Kewediono, y a todos sus cineastas, narradores, cantantes, científicos y guardianes del conocimiento que ayudaron a hacer esta película y la hicieron merecedora de un premio. Gracias a @kellymoneymaker y @drumsongfilms por venir desde Alaska para compartir una película tan importante. Fue un verdadero honor ver nuestra película junto a la suya y compartir el escenario de preguntas y respuestas con usted y escuchar su experiencia. Ojalá nuestros cineastas Waorani, Anita y Obe, hubieran estado allí para conocerlo.

Hi New York Friends The documentary I have worked on for the past 12 years is finally coming to NYC and I would to love invite you all! It’s screening Sunday July 28 @ 5pm in Manhattan at the @chainfilmfest and on August 11 @ 5pm in Brooklyn at the @greenpointfilmfestival . I will be at both for the Q&As and would love to see you at either of them. I’m sure you have heard me talk about this project sometime over the past 12 years, but in case not, this film is a collaboration with a remote Waorani community in the Ecuadorian Amazon and it follows co-directors, Anita and Obe, for over 10 years and their relationships with their elders and rainforest. It’s been a huge part of my life, so I would love to share it with you all finally, and maybe get some food and drinks afterwards. Tell your friends too!

MIWENE is coming to New York!!! It premieres in Manhattan on July 28 at the Chain Film Festival @chainfilmfest and then in Brooklyn on August 11 at the Greenpoint Film Festival @greenpointfilmfestival I’m so excited to finally show my New York community what I’ve been working on for the past 12 years in the Ecuadorian Amazon with the Waorani community of Kewediono. I will be at both screenings to discuss the film, so please come join me and show your support for the Waorani filmmakers who can’t be there but worked so hard on making this a reality.

#REDCARPET memories for the west coast #MIWENE documentary screening @molaa.art 🥰 Thank you @prehensileproductions and @keithmckellar for including us in your efforts and MOLAA for hosting ☀️ More to come! Would you like to request your red carpet photo? DM us and we will send what we have :) Thank you to all our sponsors / donors / volunteers and Community who made this event a wild success!! #documentary #screening #landback #amazon #rainforest #museum #latinamericanart

MIWENE!! We watched you! We cried with you! And we laughed with you! A true blessing and warm community gathering was had. The #DIYFF vision was realized above and beyond! Thanks to our emcee and guardian of ceremonies Ciana Lee! @pineappletamale Thanks to our house manager Kayla and crew @panacea.holistic.institute Thank you to our elders and sisters for bringing in the beauty way @sistersoftheonedrum @quetzalcoatl13 @youreonindianland Thanks to our silent auction staff! @guru_goodlove Thanks to the venue!!! @molaa.art Thanks to our ticket lady @braja.holiday #3seasons Thanks to the sun #milkywaygalaxy Thanks to the #moon Thanks of course to @keithmckellar the filmmaker who made this possible. Thank you to so many more who are not listed, we had a full house 🤟 and much abundance to send back to Kewediono. #specialscreening #miwene #longbeach museum

Yay!!!

🌏‘MIWENE is a labor of love and the result of an 11 year collaboration with the indigenous Waorani community of Kewediono in the Ecuadorian Amazon. 🌎We have strived to spread creative control and ownership to multiple storytellers in the process, as is more aligned with the Waorani’s custom of storytelling and collaboration. 🌍From its inception, this collaboration was grounded in the acknowledgement that the telling of indigenous experiences have always been dominated by outside perspectives with more privilege and resources. 🌏Thus, it was critical for us to counter the inherent imbalance of power that the non-Waorani collaborators brought to the project, and seek every opportunity to give creative control and financial ownership of the film to the subjects of the film and the community members whose stories were being represented.’ -Keith Heyward Director Team 🎞️Screening @molaa.art Sunday March 10th, 2024 🎞️ TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE! 2022 / 106 Minutes / Documentary / Color / Spanish-Waoterero-English #documentary @natgeo @diy.filmfest @keithmckellar #amazonrainforest #waoraniresistance #earth #family #traditions #humanrights #diyfilmfest #specialscreening

Our documentary film MIWENE is screening at the historic TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood this Tuesday at 4pm! Making this film for the past 12 years in the Ecuadorian Amazon with such amazing people from the Waorani community has been a highlight of my life. If any of my old California friends are wondering what I’ve been up to since high school then come check out our film on the big screen this Tuesday. Unfortunately, I can’t be there in person but I hope you can be. It’s worth a watch and I would love to hear your thoughts. Get tickets online at siliconbeachfilmfestival.com (Block OOO) or at the theater.