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Directed by Miranda Smith
Not Rated | 54 min | 2001 | USA
Renowned ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin first traveled to the Amazon thirty years ago seeking a cure for diabetes. There he found both extraordinary biological riches and shamans who healed with plant medicines. Beautifully filmed in the rainforests of Suriname, THE SHAMAN’S APPRENTICE is a powerful story of one man’s quest to preserve a deep and ancient knowledge of the rainforest’s plants.
After the film, join University of Utah biologists Phyllis Coley and Tom Kursar to explore “bioprospecting” – the discovery and commercialization of useful organic compounds – as a tool for rainforest conservation. Coley and Kursar will discuss both the project in the film as well as their own project in Panama utilizing their research on plants’ chemical defenses.
