Directed by Tracy Valcárcel

Logline: In the Andean highlands where the potato was born, a filmmaker traces her lineage—intertwining memory, migration, and a longing for the land, language, and rituals that colonisation often disrupts.

Synopsis: AXOMAMA follows the life of Alberto and his relatives, a family of potato custodians in the Peruvian Andes. The film weaves a parallel between the potato’s journey and the narrator’s complex tracing of her own origins, grappling with questions of identity and belonging. From a sacred tuber to one of the world’s most ubiquitous foods, the humble potato emerges as both metaphor and mirror of resistance in the face of survived displacement.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 27 Minutes
GENRE: Documentary
PRODUCTION FORMAT: 4K
LANGUAGE: Spanish, Quecha
LOCATION: Canada, Peru
KEYWORDS: Culture, Ecology

Director's Statement: This film emerged from a desire to learn more about my ancestry. Being able to trace the origins and migratory path of the potato gave me refuge from the frustration of the multiple barriers I encountered in tracing my own lineage. The more I discovered about the potato, the deeper my fascination became. I began to notice a parallel in our stories: how legacy, tradition, and memory become lost through colonial systems that rely on the erasure of powerful stories for the adoption of new ones. I drew parallels between my migratory journey and the potato’s.

While driving through Prince Edward Island (one of the leading potato-producing provinces in Canada) a few years ago, feeling so far from my homeland yet surrounded by vast expanses of potato farmland, I thought about the power of underground food, about Ireland and The Great Famine. I drew connections that transcended geographical borders. I saw in the potato a fitting metaphor for the process of adaptation and resilience common amongst people who undergo migration: its humbleness yet central role during political upheaval, war and struggle around the world. I was intrigued by how the potato came to share so much history with peoples from cultures all around the world, particularly those who have been forcibly displaced.

In envisioning this film, I reached out to the International Potato Centre (CIP) in Lima, where my parents used to take me as a child, to visit my uncle who worked there. I asked if they could put me in touch with families of potato custodians in the Andes and that is how I met Alberto and Don Simon’s family—both descendants of the very people who first domesticated the potato.