A Poisoned River, a Father’s Sacrifice: New Documentary Tells Story of Peru’s Toxic Mining
A poisoned river runs through Espinar, a province in the southern highlands of Peru, where lead, arsenic, cadium, manganese, and mercury have been found in the blood of members of the Cusco region’s Indigenous K’ana Nation. Mountains once majestic against the blue horizon have been erased and swallowed by vast pits as the Peruvian government courts international mining companies scraping the ancestral lands for metal. This is where Wings of Dust, the story of Vidal Merma, a Quechua Indigenous journalist, begins.
Directed by Giorgio Ghiotto, the documentary short grew prominence after winning the Student Academy Award and gaining eligibility as an Oscar hopeful for Best Documentary Short. Actor and producer Benjamin Bratt, along with his brother Peter Bratt and Alpita Patel, boarded the project under their production company 5 Stick Films. Today, Rolling Stone Films, an executive producer and Emmy award-winning arm of Rolling Stone, together with streaming platform Documentary+, released the film as the first in a slate of documentary short films, highlighting the tenacity of the human spirit when faced with seemingly impossible odds.
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But what does this moment of intensified spotlight ultimately lead to? We speak to Ghiotto and Merma to unpack how viewers can join the K’ana Nation’s fight for their basic right to clean drinking water, the heart of a story, and a father’s hope for the future.
Wings of Dust is a powerful portrait of Vidal and his community’s fight against mining companies. What has been the reaction to the documentary so far?
Ghiotto: Vidal, as you’ve seen, is a journalist that fights against pollution in his village. He fights really, really hard. He’s very committed to this. The only problem is that he is a lone wolf. What happened with the Student Academy Awards, that then led us to the official Oscars, is we started to see his voice become more global. He started to see how people were listening to him from America, from other indigenous people, like Native Americans, were connecting to him. It was really powerful. Of course, it’s amazing to see your work being recognized, but I think the main reason why I’m happy is because Vidal was able to give a speech in the Academy Museum. It was really beautiful.
The medium of film can have an incredible impact.
Ghiotto: One thing that is very good is that, yes, this can indeed have an impact. At the same time, this brought me to truly reflect about the word itself: Impact. Because I don’t know if you noticed in our industry, especially in the filming industry, usually the word impact is really abused.
Lots of filmmakers think that just by raising awareness, they are making a positive impact. They don’t really care too much about the true impact that they are making. They just care about, sometimes, the awards. That’s not something that I don’t necessarily care about, but it’s something that sometimes drives you away from the reason why you’re doing the movie.
The awards are amazing, but they’re not enough. Just talking about this is not enough. You need to truly understand how the film can impact Vidal. And to be honest with you, I would have made the [film] more structured in terms of [impact], if I could go back in time, but unfortunately, there was no time. Everything happened so quickly. But I’m definitely very happy that now Vidal is able to study abroad and work on his new projects.
If you could go back, what would you change?
Ghiotto: It would have been amazing if I got in touch with organizations while I was doing the movie and already had a plan for when the movie would be released to the Student Academy Awards — so that with the release and the big smoke around it, we would have been able to carry an even stronger impact.
Fortunately, thanks to the team that we had, we were able to do many of these things during the campaign for the movie. We collaborated with this actor, Benjamin Bratt, and the reason why we collaborated with him is because his mom was an indigenous Quechua like Vidal, and she’s also gone through a very similar situation . … Thanks to [Bratt], the movie also had a beautiful outreach, to the point that even Mark Ruffalo posted our trailer on social media. And it was amazing to see people talking about a situation that nobody even knew about. So it was really, really amazing, just in terms of visibility.
So for people watching Wings of Dust in the States. What are actionable steps we can take to make a positive impact?
Ghiotto: [Go] through the most direct path, which, in my opinion, is to reach out to Vidal. Ask what he needs — if he needs any support to keep moving forward with his mission, to keep supporting his family. For example, Rolling Stone and Documentary+ allowed us to put a QR code at the end of the movie, where people can donate to Vidal’s cause. It can be for equipment, it can be for his family, it can be for his new projects. … The best way to make an impact is to go to the people that are in need.
Why did Vidal’s story resonate with you?
Ghiotto: So two things. The main thing that resonated with me is when I was with [Vidal] in the car. And as you watch in the beginning of the movie, it starts with a dream. He keeps saying, ‘I used to dream that I was flying over these wide and infinite mountains. Now all I dream about is destruction: the dust that comes from the mine, Wings of Dust, and all the people that are sick.’ That was really crazy for me — living in New York, living in Rome — it’s crazy that somebody in 2024 still dreams in such a pure way. We all dream about our problems: bills, arguments, anxiety. [Vidal] is somebody that actually dreams about flying over the mountains. And this, I think, is the best explanation to the fact that he’s an indigenous person, and indigenous people just have a different approach to nature, to life that I think I will never be able to fully comprehend.
The second thing, of course, is the resistance and the resilience in front of adversity. An indigenous person who is padding, might watch and might go, ‘Let me just keep going, [Vidal is] the one that motivated me.’ I think putting his resilience on the screen and showing how he never gave up is the best we can ever do right now.
When you were making the film, what did you want to highlight the most? Was it that resilience and that pureness he dreamed of? Or was it something in between or something else?
Ghiotto: Exactly. Something in between. It was the relationship with his son, Erik. The relationship between the son and the father, that came out to be my main focus for the movie. I didn’t even realize that I was focusing on that until I was editing. His true motivation is his son. The fact that he wakes up in the morning and risks his life. You might think that he’s selfish. You might think that Vidal is somebody that only thinks about his work, but the truth, he is making sure that his son one day can wake up in the morning and can have the fortune to drink the clean water instead of always having to be careful that there are heavy metals in the water.
So definitely, it was the relationship between a father and a son. Even the person that thinks climate change is bullshit, they will always, always relate as fathers. That’s something that brings us all together. … I think that was the element that brings everything together.
At what point did you realize that focusing on Vidal’s relationship with his son was the most important part?
Ghiotto: The birthday party. There is a scene that I wanted to keep long — as I didn’t want to cut it — when he hugs his son. And that scene just tells a lot, because in those three, four seconds, I feel like the audience feels like their breath is missing. Behind the hug, there is humanity. … Right now with all these wars, climate problems — we always speak about ideology or politics, and what’s right, what’s wrong, but we forget who are the people. We don’t ever look at the people that are already suffering because of [these issues]. Vidal and his son remind us that all these issues are made about people. They’re not made of ideologies.
Vidal, some of the most emotional parts in the film were the scenes with your son. One that stands out is when you and your family celebrate his birthday. You often bring your son with you throughout your activism work. Why is that so important for him to see you champion your community?
Merma: I think he needs to learn so he can continue with my work and legacy. It’s so important. We don’t really have the security of always being here, and there’s no one better than him, as my son, to continue my work in the future. That’s why I always bring him, so he can learn from a young, young age. It’s so important.
What do you think it means to your son — seeing you do the work and moving forward? What could possibly mean for the next generation?
Merma: At his school, he shares the experiences of the work we do. Last year, when I wasn’t well, he made a short film about this issue with his classmates. He’s involved his friends and classmates. He’s now in a collective of young people, who are promoting the defense of our territory and Mother Nature. He leads and is part of this group of young people, and I think that’s so important. It makes me so proud because from a young age, he’s working so hard and that’s so important for society. Many young people lose time in their cellphones or tablets, but Erik would rather write scripts or present theater plays. That’s so important.
What would your ideal situation be as a journalist in terms of being able to tell the story of your community?
Merma: It’s not just about me becoming a journalist that’s well-known. But really, I hope my work can create real change in my country, in indigenous communities. But also, I want my work to help the problem in Latin America. It’s not just an issue in Peru or my province, it’s something going on in all of Latin America. My dream is to help the indigenous pueblos of all of Latin America, so they can get rid of those problems and have a better quality of life that we all deserve. That’s my dream: to help everyone get there. I’d love to work for an international publication so our work reaches other regions. That’s one of my dreams.
Do you still dream of flying?
Merma: I’ve always dreamed of flying. That’s what keeps me going and makes me strong. We can change so many things and I keep that hope. The dream of flying for me is the hope of being able to achieve changes in our society — of a world that’s more fair and has more equality. … I always dream of flying and to see that change come true.
This film is directed by Giorgio Ghiotto; produced by Eliza Mitnick; and executive produced by Benjamin Bratt, Alpita Patel, Peter Bratt, Doug Blush, Laura Guglielmetti, Mauro Parissone, Justin Lacob, Bryn Mooser, Jason Fine, Gus Wenner and Alexandra Dale. Available to stream on RollingStone.com and through the Documentary+ app.
The Producers of Wings of Dust are helping raise funds for Vidal Merma to stay safe, provide for his family, and continue his fight for clean water and Indigenous rights. For anyone wanting to donate to Vidal directly, please click here.
Parts of this interview have been translated from Spanish to English and edited for length and clarity.
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