Director Alex Pritz meets the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe and their 18-year-old leader, who’s fighting for his native lands in the Amazon.
(Bloomberg) — The Territory both inspires hope and stokes anxiety about the state of the planet. The documentary by cinematographer-turned-director Alex Pritz follows 18-year-old Bitaté, the leader of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people, as he defends his home in Rondônia, Brazil, where farmers, emboldened by Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in the Brazilian presidential election, are looking to cultivate the Amazon rainforests.Their tactics include starting forest fires to turn the lush landscape into farmland. While careful to illustrate how the farmers justify their actions, the documentary focuses on the charismatic young tribal leader and environmental activists such as Neidinha Bandeira who deal with threats of violence against her and her family.
The visuals are vibrant, and the sound is layered. The sun-drenched rainforest where members of the community swim and play almost feels like its own character. But the pacing of the film feels more like a thriller, as the community fights very real danger from settlers to keep their way of life.
Ultimately, The Territory ends up being a gripping portrait of the Indigenous people on the front lines who are fighting against climate change. There’s hope that young people like Bitaté can change things, even as invasions of Indigenous land in Brazil doubled in 2021. Already, an estimated three-quarters of the Amazon is speeding toward a “tipping point” in becoming a dry savanna. The documentary argues that protecting this part of the planet, which has been called the “lungs of the world,” is not just of the utmost importance to the survival of Indigenous cultures but also to the Earth itself.
Bloomberg Pursuits spoke to Pritz at Bloomberg’s London headquarters ahead of the film’s UK premiere.
Why was it so important for you to film this story?For me, it was interesting partially because Bitaté and the Indigenous community are victims of climate change. They’re suffering, but they’re also the best shot we have at a livable future. They’re defending the forest from fires, from invasion, from illegal mining, but they’re also defending the future for all of us who want to continue living on planet Earth.We know that Indigenous people in the Amazon have had an immensely difficult time politically getting their message across? How much time did you spend in the Amazon?We started filming in 2018, when Jair Bolsonaro came to power. And it’s not an overtly political film—it follows three characters’ lives, and we see the changes his administration has wrought on the film. We worked on it until our debut at Sundance this year.
There is another Brazilian election coming up. Do you think things have changed in Brazil for the Indigenous people since you started filming?Things have definitely gotten worse since we started filming. I think the number of invasions and the level of impunity for people who are committing environmental crimes has all certainly gone up.The pandemic happened during filming—what was that like? We see some of the people you profile becoming cinematographers themselves as you lost access to the community.That was one of the big twists! Midway through the film, we lost access to the Indigenous community. This community was first forcibly contacted and assimilated by the Brazilian government in 1981 and within two years, more than half of the population had died of tuberculosis, measles, or other communicable diseases. So the idea of foreign pathogens really loomed large for them, and they made the decision that no one can come in or out of their territory, and that forced us to rethink the entire production model of the film. They did the filming, as you’ve seen.
What can the role of documentary and film be in fighting climate change?The pessimistic side of me thinks that we already know everything we need to know about climate change and we have for a long time. And I’m not sure that more awareness is the answer. That’s partially why we didn’t make a film that tried to explain the science of climate change. But I think seeing the human cost of what’s happening, what the consequences of this are for people like Neidinha and Bitaté today, can be impactful. We’ve had people who work in Indigenous rights and the Amazon and have for decades come to us after the film and say, “Wow, I didn’t realize how much this matters,” because they didn’t understand the emotional weight of the issue.What do you hope people take away from the film after they come out of the cinema?I hope people are moved to support Indigenous rights. I hope that any conversation about climate change that we’re having as a society includes Indigenous voices at the center of that conversation and, as I said before, not as victims of climate change, but as the best hope that we all have for getting through this together. I think the other thing is, you know, just moving people to support these organizations in Brazil.
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