The Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people have seen their population dwindle and their culture threatened since coming into contact with non-Native Brazilians. Though promised dominion over their own rainforest territory, they have faced illegal incursions from environmentally destructive logging and mining, and, most recently, land-grabbing invasions spurred on by right-wing politicians like President Jair Bolsonaro. With deforestation escalating as a result, the stakes have become global.

With unprecedented access and co-produced by the Uru-eu-wau-wau community, The Territory drops the audience into the center of this conflict. Young Indigenous leaders like Bitate and Ari, along with their mentor, environmental activist Neidinha, risk their very lives to defend the rainforest. On the other side, Sergio leads an association of indigent farmers eager to establish a settlement, while others like Martin, impatient and entitled, strike out on their own, clear-cutting the forest to establish a homestead. With the government unwilling to stop this brazen encroachment, the Uru-eu-wau-wau set up their own media team, using technology to expose the truth and fight back.

This Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary (2022, 83 minutes, in Portuguese with English subtitles) will be followed by a panel discussion with: 

• Nathalia Capellini, Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for International Environmental Studies, the Geneva Graduate Institute

• Richard Pearshouse, Director of Environment & Human Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

• Alex Pritz, Film Director (online)

• Amy Shepherd, Global Impact Director, Think-Film (moderator) 

“Vivid in its specificity, global in its implications” - The Hollywood Reporter

Please note that this event can be joined only in-person.
 

Credit: Alex Pritz/Amazon Land Documentary