[Documentary] Hands of Succession: A Story of Regeneration

Set against the backdrop of Ecuador’s degraded coastal landscapes, this short documentary follows the Regeneration Field Institute, a social and environmental enterprise pioneering a hopeful path forward. In a region scarred by decades of deforestation and soil depletion, the Institute embraces syntropic agroforestry, an innovative farming system that regenerates ecosystems while sustaining livelihoods. Through stories of experimentation, collaboration, and resilience, the film reveals how farmers and communities are working with nature, not against it, to restore abundance to the land and reimagine agriculture for a regenerative future

Credits:
Film Production:
Director, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer, & Video Translator
Makenna Dovel
Camera Support
Maritza Cedeno – Regeneration Field Institute, Student
Jonathan Albia – Regeneration Field Institute, Trip Leader
Editing Advisor
Barrinton Baynes – Georgetown University, Multimedia Project Manager

Interview Team:
Lead Interviewer
Makenna Dovel
Assistant Interviewer/Translator
Jonathan Albia, Regeneration Field Institute (RFI) Trip Leader
Oscar Lucas-Solis, RFI Scientist & Development Coordinator
Manuel Jaramilo, Architect, RFI student

Featuring/Interviewees
Lucas Oshun – Director of Regeneration Field Institute (RFI)
Raisa Torres – Operations Manager of RFI
Matteo Schaffner – RFI Trip Leader & Program Coordinator of RFI
Dixon Olmedo – RFI Farm Manager
Darwin Olmedo – RFI Farm Manager
Jorge Loor – Architect & RFI Instructor
Oscar Lucas‑Solis — RFI Scientist & Development Coordinator
Jonathan Albia — RFI Trip Leader
Ecuador Zambrano – Agroforestry Expert
Viviana Valdez – Farmer in Syntropic Training Program

Special Thanks to:
Beth Huggins – Program Director of RFI
Dr. Luis Andrade Alcívar – Geotourism & Landscape Expert of Manabí, Ecuador
Jonas Hauptman – Virginia Tech Architecture, RFI Instructor

Advisor:
Dr. Leah Buchman – Georgetown University, Adjunct Faculty, Research Academic Advisor

References
Music:
AudioCoffee. (2023). Ambient Light [Song]. Free Music Archive. (CC
BY-NC-ND license).

AudioCoffee Band. (2024). Ambient Cinematic [Song]. Free Music Archive. (CC
BY-NC-ND license).
Squire Truck (2021). Fade Out [Song]. Free Music Archive.
(CC BY-NC-ND license).

Meydän. (2019). Away [Song]. Free Music Archive. (CC BY license).

Koi-discovery. (2022). Cyborg-Breakdown [Song]. CC0/Public Domain.

Robert, J. (n.d.). Batucada Minimal 100 bpm Batuca Brasil [Song]. Adobe Stock.

Scott Holmes Music. (2021). Ambient Meditation [Song]. Free Music Archive.
(CC BY-NC license).

Stock Footage / Licensing*
Envato Elements. (n.d.). Stock footage by DragonImages, BlackBoxGuild, ivanves88, Doppel_MJ, DC_Studio, PangaMedia, ederpaisan, cloudyew [Video collection]. Licensed for use in this project. https://elements.envato.com
*To see an in-depth list of footage used, click here.

Media Coverage:
Ecuavisa. (2022, July 5). El 30 % de la población ecuatoriana está expuesta a
pesticidas | Televistazo [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJfn-i8LjNI

Gotsch, E. A. (2014, October 10). Life in syntropy [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSPNRu4ZPvE

Lewis Bamboo (2020). 2020 spring moso shooting season – 5 day timelapse
[Video].YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJqRLjKlmdY
PermaDynamics (2022). The Foundations of Syntropic Agroforestry [Video].
YouTube. The Foundations of Syntropic Agroforestry
Riascos-Flores, L., Bruneel, S., Van der Heyden, C., Deknock, A., Van Echelpoel,
W., Forio, M. A. E., De Saeyer, N., Vanden Berghe, W., Spanoghe, P., Bermudez, R., Dominguez-Granda, L., & Goethals, P. (2021). Polluted paradise: Occurrence of pesticide residues within the urban coastal zones of Santa Cruz and Isabela (Galapagos, Ecuador). Science of The Total Environment, 763, 142956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142956