13 Indigenous Grandmothers Weaving a World that Works

Carole Hart

This inspirational documentary is most powerful when seen as part of a gathering, especially a large gathering that includes one of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers featured in the film. The Council began from a vision shared between Jyoti, Spiritual Director of the Center for Sacred Studies, and Bernadette Rebienot, an African shaman. From the first meeting, the call went out to the four corners of the globe to gather the grandmothers.

Each one is a powerful medicine woman and healer and together, they represent an enormous variety of different beliefs and wisdom traditions. The documentary follows the grandmothers’ first meeting at Tibet House Menla Mountain Retreat in upstate New York, where they came together to embark on a shared vision to help heal the planet. The documentary then follows the grandmothers to some of their homes, including a pueblo in New Mexico, a rainforest in Brazil, a mountaintop in Mexico, and to Dharamsala, India, where Grandma Tsering Dolma Gyaltong arranged a private meeting with the Dalai Llama. The film is narrated by actress Ashley Judd and beautifully shot and edited by an awardwinning team. It’s a great call to action for all elders and elders-to-be.