![]() There were moments when we felt like, “We need to get out of town right now.” You know, this interview didn’t go well, it’s in these small towns with 150 people and one hotel that’s not really a hotel, it’s somebody’s house, and everybody knows you’re there. The rule of law does not extend to a lot of these parts of the Amazon. I was always more worried for the members of our team that are in Brazil, day in, day out. I would get photos of me sent from numbers I didn’t know.ĭid you ever feel your life was in danger? There was always the sense that you’re being watched. That would be both morally and ethically bad, but also dangerous. Our basic social contract was, “You’re going to speak for yourself, and there will be competing points of view presented alongside yours.” I didn’t say we were speaking to Bitaté Uru Eu Wau Wau the next week! We had to have really clear boundaries of information, because I could never be put in a position where I had to give up sensitive information. That’s where Bitaté and this younger cohort in the community came in, to help explain. That was a slow process, partially because the elders had never seen a feature film before. “What the hell are all these journalists doing taking up all our time coming here, and we’re not seeing anything change?” I wanted to demonstrate what the film would look like, would feel like, and what it could be capable of. I think the elders especially were skeptical of outsiders. The key to any documentary is all the relationships that happen off camera. How did you build trust with the Uru Eu Wau Wau community? ![]() Below are edited excerpts from the conversation. I spoke with Pritz (who started the production in 2018) about navigating multiple perspectives and visualizing the vast deforestation. Heroes emerge - such as Bitaté Uru Eu Wau Wau, a young media-savvy Indigenous leader, and Neidinha Bandeira, a nervy veteran activist - but the threat of violence proves all too real. “This was an active conflict - almost a long, slow war,” Pritz, who has filmed in Somalia and Sudan, said last week. That on-the-ground approach brings a visceral suspense to global environmental issues and gives a firsthand view of a local community (numbering less than 200) as they fight for survival in new ways. Pritz embeds us with both an Indigenous community under threat, the Uru Eu Wau Wau, and the farmers who seize Indigenous lands with apparent impunity. Alex Pritz’s documentary “The Territory” drops us right onto the front lines of the battle to preserve the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |