Hello Ren and the rest of the team at Beautiful Destinations!

I am Alex, a Québec-born videographer with over a dozen years of full time freelance experience. I have created images on six different continents for clients such as Air Canada, the BBC, NatGeo and many more. I just turned 30 years old and I speak perfect Spanish and English as well as native French and decent German.

This page serves both as a curated introduction to my work and as a proposition for a cinematic story for BD Originals, as recommended by Ren.

Let’s start with my concept for a narrative story on an exotic and relatively unknown culture.

The Arhuacos people of Colombia live on an indigenous reservation on the protected territory of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
They’re known for their strong spirituality which is highly connected to nature. They are pacifists and do not use weapons. They practice agriculture and textile craftsmanship. The Arhuacos believe the Sierra Nevada is the heart of the world and the core of the universe.

I"‘ve had the chance to travel to their territory for a commercial shoot for Cafe William, a Canadian roaster that wanted to make the statement that their coffee was the greenest on the planet, grown using the Arhuacos chemical-free techniques and shipped from Colombia to Québec by zero emission sailboat. As cinematographer, it was my responsibility to capture both the ground and drone footage that would be used to make various videos for web and a 15s TV commercial that ran nationally in Canada.

The Heart of the World – A Journey with the Arhuacos

Length: approximately 3 minutes
Platform: YouTube (with potential cuts for Instagram and TikTok)
Style: Poetic, cinematic, reverent, blending aerial cinematography, intimate portraits, glimpses of wildlife, beautiful landscapes, ambient soundscapes, and a minimal score, ideally recorded on location from traditional Arhuacos ceremonies.

Here’s a tentative structure for the video, subject to change while adapting to what we will film on location.

Opening Scene (0:00 – 0:30)

Visuals:
Drone sweeps from Caribbean coastline inland, rising up the lush Sierra Nevada, clouds weaving around peaks. Aerial shot of snow-capped peaks meeting tropical forests, right next to the ocean. A lone Arhuaco walks a narrow mountain path, his white tunic glowing against the earth.

Voiceover (narrated in Spanish by an Arhuaco elder):

“They say this mountain is the Heart of the World. When it ceases to beat, the rest of the world will fall silent.”

Middle Sequence (0:30 – 2:15)

Structure: Myths + Daily Life + Landscape
Visuals:

• Close-ups of Arhuaco faces—elders with deep-set eyes, children weaving mochilas.

• Fire-lit storytelling at dusk.

• Rituals by sacred rivers.

• Mamo (spiritual leader) giving cotton threads to crew as offerings.

• Glimpses of wildlife—the jaguar, condor, and hummingbird.
  

• Voiceover interwoven with natural sound:

“We are the guardians of Aluna—the spiritual essence of all things.

The Sierra is where the Earth speaks loudest. Its rivers are veins. Its clouds, breath. Its silence, wisdom.”

Myth Highlight:

• The story of Kunsamü, the primordial mother, who wove the cosmos from thought.

• The sacred law of harmony (the Law of Origin) that ties all life to the mountain.

✨ Final Act (2:15 – 3:00)

Visuals:
The child from the beginning now sits beside an elder, listening. The sun sets behind the peaks. The mountain glows with golden light.
Voiceover:

“The world is forgetting. But we remember.

We are not just people of the mountain.
We are the mountain.”

Why It Matters for Beautiful Destinations

• Rare access to one of the world’s most spiritually protected Indigenous groups.

• Amplifies Indigenous voices with respect and artistry.

• Aligns with BD’s mission: celebrating beauty with purpose.

• High shareability across platforms: visually stunning, emotionally resonant, culturally rich.