Film Screening: Opening the Earth: The Potato King - followed by a discussion with the director
Host: The Andean Alliance
This session presents Opening the Earth: The Potato King, the story of Julio Hancco, an ageing guardian of potato biodiversity living at 14,600 feet in the Peruvian Andes.
While global agriculture narrows toward uniformity, Julio protects hundreds of native potato varieties whose genetic diversity may prove critical in a climate-uncertain future.
The film follows his family and two young Peruvians standing at a crossroads: remain in their ancestral Quechua farming tradition or leave for the promise of urban wealth in Lima.
Through their choices, the documentary challenges our perception of poverty and asks what “progress” truly means when culture, land, and biodiversity are at stake.
At its heart, the session addresses a systems question central to Marmalade’s focus on people, power, and place: what happens to ecological resilience when the communities who steward biodiversity can no longer remain on their land?
As Indigenous agricultural knowledge erodes under modernization and migration, so too does the diversity that feeds the world.
Following the screening, director Aaron Ebner will reflect on 15 years working alongside Andean and Amazonian communities and explore practical strategies that strengthen local economies, elevate traditional crops, and keep Indigenous families rooted in the landscapes they have sustained for generations.
This venue has a capacity of 90.