Alan Ereira is a British author, historian and documentary filmmaker. He is a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales, Trinity St. David.

Life

Educated at

Kilburn Grammar School Kilburn Grammar School was an English grammar school which opened in 1898 in Kilburn, north-west London. The school ceased to exist in 1967. History The school's history is detailed in a book by Richard E Brock. It was founded by the Rev. Dr. ...

and at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

(1962-1965), where he played a leading role in The Bats, the college dramatic society, Ereira subsequently worked at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

on television and radio, contributing documentaries to the Timewatch strand amongst others. He was awarded the Japan Prize for his 1978 documentary on the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

, and the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

''Best Documentary Series'' award for his 1988 documentary on the Armada. Ereira directed a documentary called ''From the Heart of the World - The Elder Brother's Warning'' (1990) for the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

. In this film he documented his unique visits to the

Kogi people The Kogi ( ), or Cogui, or Kágaba, meaning "jaguar" in the Kogi language, are an Indigenous group that resides in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. Their culture has continued since the Pre-Columbian era. Langua ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, an indigenous ('Indian') ethnic group which survived attempts by the Spanish conquerors to destroy them by retreating high up into the mountainous area of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, where they now live. These meetings were only allowed by the Kogi Mamos who normally restrict any direct interaction with the modern world. In Ereira's case, the Mamos made an exception as they saw him as the filmmaker they wanted to convey their message to the world. Ereira regards the Kogi as unique amongst indigenous peoples in the Americas in that they have managed to retain their traditional culture almost entirely intact. Since the 1980s, the Kogi have warned, on the basis of their observation of ecological changes in the Sierra Nevada, that the world is facing an ecological catastrophe. They asked Ereira to make his films about them to warn the rest of the world (and particularly the West) that it needs to radically change its way of living, and its exploitative attitude to the natural world, if it is to avert this catastrophe. Ereira later wrote about the filming of the documentary in his book '' The Heart of the World'' (1990). This book has been republished and retitled as '' The Elder Brothers'' (1992) and '' The Elder Brothers' Warning'' (2009). '' Aluna'' is the sequel documentary to ''The Heart of the World: Elder Brother's Warning'' and was made by an indigenous

film crew A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of Filmmaking, producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the Ensemble cast, cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear ...

and the Kogi Mamos in collaboration with Ereira. This is to be the final warning to the world by the Kogi Mamos, as it is apparent to them that the world did not heed their original warning in the first documentary. Ereira collaborated with

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones a ...

on the documentary series ''

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

'' (1995), '' Terry Jones' Medieval Lives'' (2004) and '' Terry Jones' Barbarians'' (2006), with whom he also co-authored the respective companion books. In 2004 he also presented, wrote and produced a 6-part documentary series on the kings and queens of England for UKTV History.

Filmography

* 1988 '' Armada'' producer, writer & narrator * 1990 '' From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers' Warning'' producer, director, & writer * 1995 ''

'' producer, director & writer * 2004 '' Terry Jones' Medieval Lives'' associate producer & writer * 2004 '' Kings and Queens of England'' producer, writer & presenter * 2006 '' Terry Jones' Barbarians'' producer & writer * 2012 '' Aluna'' producer & director

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Information about his work in South AmericaOfficial website of the second and final Kogi Mamos documentary
archived from th
Original
on 2 October 2013 using the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

LinkTV video chat with Alan EreiraBringing the Land back to Life
Alan Ereira talks about the wisdom of the Kogi Indians and an important new UNESCO project in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. Beshara Magazine (16 June 2023)
The Power of Gold
A review of Alan Ereira's book
Gold: How it shaped History
', Beshara Magazine (15 November 2024) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ereira, Alan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Academics of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge English people of Portuguese descent Film people from London Historians from London Writers from London