Karuara, People of the River, directed by Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Araoz Cartagena, has been given the WACC–SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2025.

This feature-length documentary gives voice to an Indigenous community in Peru’s northern Amazon region whose survival depends not just on climate justice, but also on their right to be heard and to protect their way of life.

Karuara was produced in collaboration with Radio Ucamara, an Indigenous media outlet located on the banks of the Marañón River, and an Indigenous women’s organization. The film’s protagonist and one of its producers, Mari Luz Canaquiri, recently won the Goldman Environmental Prize for Latin America. She is president of Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, a Kukama women’s association.

The film brings to light the importance of the Amazon region, the world’s largest source of biodiversity, the lungs of our planet. It holds 20% of our fresh water and is crucial in mitigating the effects of climate change. Humanity’s survival depends on the Amazon Rainforest and yet the destruction continues.

The Karuara river spirits live in a parallel universe underwater and visit their human cousins in dreams. They lounge in hammocks made of boa constrictors, smoke sardines and wear crayfish watches, stingray hats and catfish shoes. Behind their playfulness, the Karuara are powerful spirits with healing powers and great knowledge. Their name means “people of the river” in Kukama-Kukamiria, an endangered Indigenous language.

But the Karuara spirits and the old ways are in danger of being forgotten and the Kukama people face cultural genocide. While foreign companies earn millions from the Amazon’s resources, Indigenous communities lack basic development like schools, health care and clean water. Mari Luz and her community are fighting back.