In a Mbyá-Guarani community along the Brazil-Argentina border, filmmaker Ariel Kuaray Ortega returns home to visit his grandfather and finally hear the complete story of Canuto, a villager remembered for transforming into a jaguar before meeting a tragic end. Eager to preserve the tale, Ortega and the community decide to create a film together, with locals taking on the roles of actors and crew. As the project develops, the story of Canuto unfolds through both oral history and staged reenactments, drawing on the Guarani concept of jepotá, the mysterious change between human and animal. The process blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction, folklore and cinema, capturing both the legend itself and the collective act of retelling it. Canuto’s Transformation weaves myth, memory, and everyday life into a portrait of a community reclaiming its stories through film.
I could literally gush for hours about this incredibly creative and insightful film. It’s a fascinating folk tale, a behind-the-scenes documentary, cultural preservation, anthropology, and a love letter to a long-dead grandfather all wrapped up into one beautiful, complicated package. And when I say ‘complicated’, I mean there are a lot of moving parts. Where some filmmakers would have the movie run like a machine, Ariel Ortega and Ernesto de Carvalho give us a dance, intermingling documentary with fantasy, native tradition with modern reality, and history with story. Jumping from the ball of one foot to the heel of the other, Canuto’s Transformation gives us a glimpse not only into the lives of natives living across European-created borders, but into the mindset of young native people. They stand between two worlds, two times, three distinct cultures, and all of these things affect how they see the world. We get a glimmer of that in this unique docu-story. Those interested in Guaraní peoples and culture or native stories and history will be the most trilled to see Canuto’s Transformation, but anyone who enjoys creative filmmaking or forward-thinking documentaries will also find a lot to love. Highly recommended.
Why should public and academic libraries add this Indigenous storytelling documentary to their collections?
This hybrid documentary–folktale is a powerful example of community-authored cinema: it preserves Mbyá-Guarani oral history while modeling decolonial storytelling practices. For public libraries, it offers patrons an accessible, visually inventive window into Indigenous lifeways along the Brazil–Argentina border; for academic libraries, it supports coursework and research in Indigenous studies, Latin American studies, anthropology/ethnography, folklore, border studies, and film practice.
Can Canuto’s Transformation be used in courses on Indigenous studies, anthropology, or film?
Absolutely. In Indigenous and Latin American studies, it invites discussion of jepotá (human–animal transformation), oral tradition, and the politics of telling one’s own stories across colonial borders. In anthropology and folklore, it functions as an ethnographic text and a meta-case study in participatory methods and reflexivity. In film courses, it’s a prime example of docu-fiction and collaborative authorship, prompting analysis of how reenactment, myth, and behind-the-scenes process reshape cinematic truth. Pair with readings on decolonial methodologies and community media; assign response prompts comparing oral history to staged sequences and evaluating ethical practice on and off camera.
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