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©aquamaterstudio 2026
WATER MEMORIES Vol. 04 -
In the footsteps of the feathered serpentSpanish / English
Mexico
2026
To be filmed
Support Needed
Water Memories — Vol. 04 - In the footsteps of the feathered serpent
**Water Memories — Vol. 04
In the Footsteps of the Feathered Serpent**
**Locations**
Mexico. Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl · Cenotes, Riviera Maya (Yucatán) · Mexico City
---
### Logline
An immersive art-film and participatory project that explores water as sacred, life-giving, and a vessel of collective memory—moving between Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, Maya cenotes, Janzu aquatic practice, and the voices of local knowledge keepers.
---
### Synopsis
Set between Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, the cenotes of the Riviera Maya, and Mexico City, *In the Footsteps of the Feathered Serpent* follows the currents where myth, ritual, and ecology meet.
Through Janzu—“pacified river”—bodies become conduits for remembrance; supported in warm water, participants drift, dive, and resurface as breath, heartbeat and currents compose a tactile score. Voices, drums and underwater sound recordings braid together a sensorial tapestry in which water is both medium and messenger.
Guided by Colectivo Agua, Janzu practitioners, and a Maya history expert, the film listens to water as archive and teacher: cenotes as portals between worlds, rivers and springs as axes of community life, hands as oars, breath as bridge. The camera moves like a stream—slow, attentive—inviting viewers into a contemplative experience where ancestral narratives surface alongside contemporary care practices.
In dialogue with this, we encounter the **axolotl**, an amphibian capable of remarkable self‑regeneration and an emblem of Mexico City’s aquatic memory. Axolotls become living metaphors of resilience and transformation, connecting urban waterscapes with ancient lake ecologies.
An interview with **Nana Macuna** deepens the journey: she speaks of water as a living presence, of who Quetzalcóatl—the Feathered Serpent—has been across time, and what this figure still means for relationships between earth, sky and water. Quetzalcóatl is approached not as distant myth but as a pathway to rethink our place within a more‑than‑human cosmos.
Throughout, water is not only subject but collaborator, shaping pacing, framing, and the ethics of encounter.
---
### Artistic Approach
- **Sensory cinema**
Hydrophones, breath‑led rhythms, and close-up textures of skin, stone and vegetation; slow-motion and underwater shots render vibration, suspension and flow visible.
- **Ritual dramaturgy**
Offerings, circle work, and gentle Janzu sequences are treated as living scores—not reenactments for the camera, but co‑designed moments grounded in local protocols and consent.
- **Myth & ecology in dialogue**
Quetzalcóatl, cenotes and axolotls are approached through both expert insight and lived practice, balancing symbolic depth with ecological and historical grounding.
- **Co‑creation & care**
Storylines, access, and consent processes are developed with local partners; the project is art‑led and trauma‑aware, and does not replace therapy or medical care.
---
### Key Collaborators
- **Colectivo Agua** – aquatic facilitation, community bridges, protocol co‑design
- **Janzu practitioners** – embodied practice, participant safety and preparation
- **Maya history expert** – historical context, cosmology, narrative integrity
- **Nana Macuna** – spiritual perspective on water, Quetzalcóatl and lived tradition
- **Axolotl/urban ecology researcher** – (to be confirmed) ecological and scientific grounding
- **Aqua Mater Studio** – direction, sound design, camera, production
---
### Deliverables
- Short art-film (festival, museum, and online formats)
- Immersive sound–video installation (multichannel audio, dual‑channel video)
- Original soundtrack (water, voice, instruments, field recordings)
- Photo–text zine documenting process, places, and voices
- Educational/ethical toolkit for community screenings and discussions
---
### Impact
- Revives and shares water‑centered cosmologies to inspire contemporary environmental stewardship
- Models ethical, cross‑cultural collaboration and trauma‑aware facilitation in aquatic settings
- Offers audiences a felt experience of interdependence, vulnerability and reverence around water
- Connects symbolic figures (Quetzalcóatl, axolotl, cenotes) with present‑day ecological realities
---
### Support Invitation
We invite partners who value poetic rigor, scientific and historical depth, and cultural respect. Your support will enable fair collaboration with local contributors, safe and trauma‑aware aquatic facilitation, and sound‑led postproduction—ensuring a work that honours both the waters we film and the communities who live with and within them, carrying a universal message of care for water and the stories it holds.
**Water Memories — Vol. 04
In the Footsteps of the Feathered Serpent**
**Locations**
Mexico. Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl · Cenotes, Riviera Maya (Yucatán) · Mexico City
---
### Logline
An immersive art-film and participatory project that explores water as sacred, life-giving, and a vessel of collective memory—moving between Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, Maya cenotes, Janzu aquatic practice, and the voices of local knowledge keepers.
---
### Synopsis
Set between Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, the cenotes of the Riviera Maya, and Mexico City, *In the Footsteps of the Feathered Serpent* follows the currents where myth, ritual, and ecology meet.
Through Janzu—“pacified river”—bodies become conduits for remembrance; supported in warm water, participants drift, dive, and resurface as breath, heartbeat and currents compose a tactile score. Voices, drums and underwater sound recordings braid together a sensorial tapestry in which water is both medium and messenger.
Guided by Colectivo Agua, Janzu practitioners, and a Maya history expert, the film listens to water as archive and teacher: cenotes as portals between worlds, rivers and springs as axes of community life, hands as oars, breath as bridge. The camera moves like a stream—slow, attentive—inviting viewers into a contemplative experience where ancestral narratives surface alongside contemporary care practices.
In dialogue with this, we encounter the **axolotl**, an amphibian capable of remarkable self‑regeneration and an emblem of Mexico City’s aquatic memory. Axolotls become living metaphors of resilience and transformation, connecting urban waterscapes with ancient lake ecologies.
An interview with **Nana Macuna** deepens the journey: she speaks of water as a living presence, of who Quetzalcóatl—the Feathered Serpent—has been across time, and what this figure still means for relationships between earth, sky and water. Quetzalcóatl is approached not as distant myth but as a pathway to rethink our place within a more‑than‑human cosmos.
Throughout, water is not only subject but collaborator, shaping pacing, framing, and the ethics of encounter.
---
### Artistic Approach
- **Sensory cinema**
Hydrophones, breath‑led rhythms, and close-up textures of skin, stone and vegetation; slow-motion and underwater shots render vibration, suspension and flow visible.
- **Ritual dramaturgy**
Offerings, circle work, and gentle Janzu sequences are treated as living scores—not reenactments for the camera, but co‑designed moments grounded in local protocols and consent.
- **Myth & ecology in dialogue**
Quetzalcóatl, cenotes and axolotls are approached through both expert insight and lived practice, balancing symbolic depth with ecological and historical grounding.
- **Co‑creation & care**
Storylines, access, and consent processes are developed with local partners; the project is art‑led and trauma‑aware, and does not replace therapy or medical care.
---
### Key Collaborators
- **Colectivo Agua** – aquatic facilitation, community bridges, protocol co‑design
- **Janzu practitioners** – embodied practice, participant safety and preparation
- **Maya history expert** – historical context, cosmology, narrative integrity
- **Nana Macuna** – spiritual perspective on water, Quetzalcóatl and lived tradition
- **Axolotl/urban ecology researcher** – (to be confirmed) ecological and scientific grounding
- **Aqua Mater Studio** – direction, sound design, camera, production
---
### Deliverables
- Short art-film (festival, museum, and online formats)
- Immersive sound–video installation (multichannel audio, dual‑channel video)
- Original soundtrack (water, voice, instruments, field recordings)
- Photo–text zine documenting process, places, and voices
- Educational/ethical toolkit for community screenings and discussions
---
### Impact
- Revives and shares water‑centered cosmologies to inspire contemporary environmental stewardship
- Models ethical, cross‑cultural collaboration and trauma‑aware facilitation in aquatic settings
- Offers audiences a felt experience of interdependence, vulnerability and reverence around water
- Connects symbolic figures (Quetzalcóatl, axolotl, cenotes) with present‑day ecological realities
---
### Support Invitation
We invite partners who value poetic rigor, scientific and historical depth, and cultural respect. Your support will enable fair collaboration with local contributors, safe and trauma‑aware aquatic facilitation, and sound‑led postproduction—ensuring a work that honours both the waters we film and the communities who live with and within them, carrying a universal message of care for water and the stories it holds.