Cochineal (Dactylopius Coccus) is a beetle, endemic to the Americas, that lives in the nopal cacti (Opuntia) produces carminic acid to deter predators that also makes it an important pigment source. Cultivated since pre-Hispanic times, cochineal is still the only natural source of red and pink pigments. The colonial cochineal trade was important for the Renaissance and economically sustained the Spanish empire until the emergence of synthetic dyes. Increasing demand for organic and natural dyes to use in fashion, food, and cosmetics has led to a new industrial resurgence that, once again, depends on the labor and knowledges of Indigenous peoples. In Peru, the expansion of the cochineal industry is described as environmentally sustainable—making arid lands productive and helping mitigate climate change. Qamaya Puka is a short experimental exploration of the preparation of cochineal pigments that is part of a larger feature currently in development. Using 35mm film stock, digital video, and archival footage, Qamaya Puka centers the materiality of color to explore how aesthetic and ethical ideals configure ecological relations tied to the material demands of more-than-human worlds, Indigenous lives, and notions of capitalist sustainability. The film considers the entropic force of cochineal—as pigment, animal, symbol—and its complex connections to Indigenous histories, presents, and futures.