Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

The Eternal Song is a cinematic journey through timeless lands and their Indigenous cultures. Voices from around the world and across generations call us to witness the deep, ongoing scars of colonization on lands and peoples, and the healing that comes through ancestral wisdom. Entrusted with medicine stories, we grapple with colonial legacies, intergenerational trauma, our own fragmentation and culture of separation.

The film reveals how modernity severs our connection to nature, each other, and the ancestral realm, while feeding us empty promises of salvation, unlimited consumption and economic growth, and individual happiness. As we are drawn into the intricate web of kinship and honoring the living presence of Mother Earth, we awaken a remembrance. A sacred dance comes to life and we begin to hear the eternal song of Life itself, calling us back to belonging.

The Eternal Song

Zaya Ralitza Benazzo

Maurizio Benazzo

Pat McCabe

Tiokasin Ghosthorse

Bayo Akomolafe

Aviaja Sanimuinaq

Caroline Janet Campbell

Nicholoz Kachibaia

Finley Macneil

Alexis Aurigemma