Join us for a free screening of the National Geographic Channel film Ancient Voices, Modern World: Colombia, featuring National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis and four indigenous people from Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, at noon on March 17, at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The film documents Davis’s journey into the Sierra Nevada at the invitation of the four ethnic groups—descendants of the Tayrona and known collectively as the “Elder Brothers”—who inhabit this remote mountain range along the Caribbean coast. The Arhuaco wanted Davis to make the film in order to inform the outside world (or “Younger Brothers,” as the Sierra peoples refer to us) of the need to respect the sacred lands of the Sierra, and to warn us against continuing to disrupt the balance of nature worldwide.

Narrowly avoiding capture by guerrillas of the left-wing FARC, Davis and producer Graham Townsley found the Arhuaco culture still strong and intact, despite having been impacted by the long-running conflict involving the FARC, right-wing paramilitaries, and drug traffickers. The last few years have brought relative peace to the Sierra, in part due to the government’s success in stabilizing the military situation, and its efforts to protect the rights of the area’s indigenous peoples. Meanwhile, the Arhuaco have become increasingly concerned with the impact our industrial society is having on the equilibrium of nature, which they believe is disrupted by our attempts to exploit our natural resources.

After this screening, presented by National Geographic Live! as part of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital with support from the Embassy of Colombia, a delegation including three Mamos (traditional authorities and spiritual leaders) from the Sierra peoples, as well as a young Arhuaco leader, will make a special presentation explaining the spiritual role played by the Elder Brothers in maintaining the equilibrium of the natural world, and urging Americans and other citizens of the industrialized world to be more responsible caretakers of the environment.

The screening will be introduced by Wade Davis, with remarks by producer Graham Townsley, and will be followed by a presentation by the Elder Brothers, who will also take questions from the audience. Also in attendance will be the Ambassador of Colombia, Sra. Carolina Barco Isakson, whose government is helping to make the delegation’s visit possible.

The screening is free and open to the public.