Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – When Makenzie “Kenzi” Cutler was considering how to approach her semester class project, a documentary, she began thinking beyond the classroom. The college senior set her sights on the Amazon jungle.
“My documentary’s name is ‘Keepers of the Ancient Library,’ and it is a travelogue-style documentary where I travel to Peru to stay with a nonprofit organization fighting to protect and preserve the Amazon jungle,” Cutler said.
The documentary is now one of six finalists in the Intercollegiate Broadcast System’s “Best Documentary” category and placed 17th in the Hearst Multimedia Narrative Storytelling Competition.
Cutler, now an A-State graduate, was first drawn to the jungle after learning about the book “Mother of God” by Paul Rosolie, which highlights conservation efforts in the Amazon through Junglekeepers, an organization Rosolie co-founded with Juan Julio Durand.
“At that moment, I knew I was going to the Amazon,” Cutler said.
While in the planning stages, she realized she would have to fund the documentary herself. Cutler drained her savings account to pay for the trip.
Her journey began at the Memphis airport, with flights to Miami, then Lima, Peru, and finally Puerto Maldonado.
“I stayed the night in Puerto Maldonado, then the next morning we had a three-hour car ride through the countryside to the river, where we took a one-hour boat ride to the middle of the jungle,” she said. “That’s where the Las Piedras Biodiversity Station was, home for the next few days.”
Accompanying Cutler through the Amazon was her tour guide, Victor.
“He treks with me each day, teaching me about the jungle’s life,” she said. “My trip was nothing short of a chaotic adventure, and it makes for amazing stories. This was my first time flying outside of the country, and I was doing it completely alone.”
While in Peru, Cutler faced several setbacks, including a broken laptop power converter.
“I didn’t account for the humidity and how that would impact my equipment,” she said. “Some days my lenses wouldn’t just fog over, humidity would get between the camera sensor and glass.”
While Cutler hopes the documentary educates viewers about the jungle, she also learned firsthand.
“Victor picked up one of the most venomous snakes in the jungle on my first night,” Cutler said. “He taught me about ants that can be used as stitches, ants that enslave other ants, and how the Amazon is a carbon sink — often referred to as the lungs of the planet.”
After returning to the United States following a long journey marked by little sleep and finding overnight shelter on the floor of a crowded airport, Cutler began editing the documentary.
“Over the next two months, I poured my heart into making the best documentary I could,” she said. “It didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted, but I’m really proud of myself for making it happen.”
Cutler submitted the documentary to several film festivals, and while waiting to hear about awards, she said she is grateful for the experience. Cutler lives in Jonesboro and now works full-time as a video production specialist for the university.
“I had no idea I was even a candidate,” Cutler said. “When I saw I was one of six finalists, I called my mom crying.”
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