Zahy Guajajara

The border between Brazil and Paraguay: living on opposite sides of a big river, Brazilian boy Joca falls in love with indigenous-Paraguayan girl Basano. A magical tale of impossible love and adventure in this land full of memories of colonial wars and indigenous genocide.

Uýra, a trans-indigenous artist travels through the Amazon forest on a journey of self-discovery using performance art and ancestral messages to teach indigenous youth and confront structural racism and transphobia in Brazil.

An indigenous teacher implements the use of Ayahuasca in her classes in order to connect her students to another reality. During a ritual, one of the children comes upon a weird gear in the forest.

This project was born from the need to demonstrate the massacre of indigenous culture. The narrative emerges from the earth, representing the birth of a genuine being, in symbiosis with nature, who will go through a process of searching for identity. It is the fight for indigenous inclusion in society without giving up ancestry. “R-exist” is the hope of rebirth for the next indigenous generations.

The film rescues the word “karaiw”, which means “civilized”, to question the constructed image of the “savage” and “barbaric” indigenous, an image rooted in coloniality. In the work, the invention of civility is put to the test along with the ideals of progress, intellectuality and modernization.

A manifest performance of the artist and activist Zahy Guajajara, who tell us her life story to relate the journey of indigenous peoples’ struggle for “R-existence”. She speaks about the Guardians of the Forests, a group of Guajajara who fight for the preservation of the forests. Telling us how they resist to protect the Guajajara indigenous people; ancestors; and rituals. The Guardians of the Forest in Arariboia – Maranhão also protect the Awá Guajá, Indigenous who don’t have any contact with western civilization. The intensified deforestation caused by the fires set by groups of hunters and loggers is exhausting their water and food reserves. Since Bolsonaro became president of Brazil, five of the Forest Guardians have been murdered.

An environmental police officer uncovers a hidden world of mythological entities from Brazilian folklore when he finds a connection between the mysterious appearance of a dead river dolphin on a Rio de Janeiro beach and the death of his beloved wife.