The Territory
Partially shot by the Uru-eu-wau-wau people and filmed over the course of several years, The Territory offers an authentic portrait of an Indigenous community’s daily life and struggles. With its breathtaking cinematography showcasing the dramatic landscape and richly textured sound design, the film brings audiences deep into the precious ecosystem they are fighting to protect.
Since the Uru-eu-wau-wau were first contacted by the Brazilian government in 1981, their territory has become an island of green rainforest surrounded by denuded farms and ranches—the result of four decades of unchecked deforestation.
The community has faced environmentally destructive and often violent incursions into their sovereign territory by nonnatives seeking to exploit the land. Illegal logging and land clearing incursions have become more frequent and more brazen over the years.
Inside Uru-eu-wau-wau territory, there are fewer than 200 people, including elders and children, to defend nearly 7,000 square miles of rainforest. On the edges of the protected lands, a network of farmers organizes to stake their claims through official channels, while individual land-grabbers begin clear-cutting swaths of rainforest for themselves.
With the community’s survival at stake, Bitaté Uru-eu-wau-wau and Neidinha Bandeira—a young Indigenous leader and his female mentor—must find new ways to protect the rainforest from encroaching invaders. But rather than rely on others to tell their story, the Uru-eu-wau-wau take control of the narrative and create their own news media team to bring the world the truth.
Featuring a post-screening panel discussion on Indigenous rights in Brazil and the US, with producer Will Miller.
Sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.
more info at this website: films.nationalgeographic.com/the-territory
In Portuguese, Tupi-Kawahiva with English subtitles