Ñii Ñu’u – Sacred skin
2022.07.01 | Mexico
dir. Omar Aguilar Sánchez / documentary /
Mexico / 2022 /
languages: Mixtec, Spanish / subtitles: PL, EN
Mixtec codices, the movie. This film is about the Ñuu Savi People (People of the Rain, Mixtec People) and how they are recovering and re-appropriating their cultural memory through their ancestral pictorial writing contained in the Mixtec codices. The codices are sacred books or “Ñii Ñu’u”, in the Mixtec language, that contain the history and cosmovision of the Ñuu Savi People. Unfortunately, because of the legacy of colonization today none of the Mixtec codices that survived is in the hands of the community. This film shows how, after 500 years, the director and Mixtec scholar has interpreted the codices based on the knowledge of his own language and culture. Being aware of his belonging to the Ñuu Savi, the director started to share and to teach child, young and the communities how to read the codices, giving workshops and recreating the pictorial writing again to support their identity, with practical implications in the own community with the creation of an official logo. This work has been inspirational for other Mixtec communities and the most important shows the commitment of an indigenous scholar with his own people, challenging to the Western view.
Ñii ñu’u kuu in tiñu ja ka’an a jee nda ntyivi Ñuu Savi, de nasa sa’an nda tava nakuni nda nasa ni nkuu kivi yata, ta nu ja nate’e nda nu Ñii Ñu’u. Ya’a kuu in tutu ii ja ka’an nda “Ñii Ñu’u” nu tu’un moo, de su nu nda tutu ya’a ka’an kuatyi nda ndoso, nu tutu ii ya’a natee nda nasa jekoo Ñaa Yivi de tu’un ja na’a ja in in ñuu nu Ñuu Savi, de nakua kuu ndoo. Sunka de ta nkii nda tee xtila de ndava nda ñii ñu’u Ñuu Savi de ode mita de ni inn nda tutu ya’a iyo ini ñuu ndoo. De su, tiñu ya’a kátyi nasa ku ka’avo nda ñii ñu’u ji tu’un moo ji nasa’a tuku ndo ini ñuu moo, tyi tee ja nsa’a kuu de iin tee savi. De su se’e ñuu ya’a suni nkije’e xte’e nu nda sutyi luli, tee kuatyi ji nda ñuu tava kúni nda nasa natee nda ntyivi ityi tyata, nasa nateo tuku tava kuno ninu vaajo, sukua ni nsa’a in tuni ja jee Ñuu Yute Suji. De suni tiñu ya’a nsa’a nu nda inka ñuu, de vii nkuu, tyi sua’a de ndi’i nda ntyivi savi kuu kuni nda tu’un ja na’a, suni tiñu ya’a naxte’en nasa nda ma se’e savi nasa’a de naxte’en nda ini ñuu, tiñu ja nda tee xtila ji ntyivi yata ndute ma sa’a nda ta sa’a maa nda ntyivi ji se’e Ñuu Savi.
