Award-winning filmmaker speaking at Newtown Friends Meeting

Newtown Friends Meeting will feature an award-winning documentary about the last handwoven Inca suspension bridge in Peru by Candido Rodriguez, Newtown Quaker Meeting member, filmmaker, molecular biologist, and musician, in a Zoom presentation at the First Day Adult Class at 9:45 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 14.
It will be followed by traditional Quaker worship based on silent meditation at 11 a.m. Visit newtownfriendsmeeting.org for information.
Rodriguez will show his film, “Q’eswachaka,” about the bridge high in the Andes built of grass across a gorge by villagers using 15th century methods. The film received the Award of Excellence at the Berkeley, California Film Festival in 2002.

“Q’eswachaka,” literally “bridge made of grass rope,” tells of the construction of the bridge in the province of Canas 13,000 feet above sea level in Peru. The bridge is rebuilt every two years to cross a 50-foot gorge 120 feet wide, though there is now an iron bridge nearby.
Historically, the bridge was built to connect two communities previously remote from each other. Construction of the bridge is closely tied to the builders’ desires to maintain their relationships with earth and the Apus in harmony.

---

Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.