Acre hosts traveling indigenous film festival

FestCine Originários shows 12 films from short to feature-length, including a documentary by Edivan Guajajara, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio

(brpress) – Between the 6th and 20th of April, the cities of Rio Branco, Cruzeiro do Sul and Mâncio Lima, both also in Acre, will host FestCine Originários, the first traveling indigenous film festival. The objective is to give visibility to production that highlights indigenous peoples in the state of Acre.

Fight for land

Created by producer Moisés Alencastro, the event begins with Aldeia Ipiranga, in the Puyanawa Indigenous Land, in Mâncio Lima. Among the 12 films shown is Somos Guardians (Brazil, 2023), a documentary available on Netflix, directed by Edivan Guajajara, brother of the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

We Are Guardians is an investigation into the economic machine behind rampant deforestation in the Amazon region and its human and environmental consequences. The film shows the dedication of forest defenders and indigenous peoples – something that Maranhão director Edivan Guajajara wanted to highlight.

Speaking of people originating from Maranhão – one of the most violent Amazonian states where 23 indigenous people were murdered in the last 4 years – and fighting for the right to land and a preserved environment, this is also the theme of the new documentary We Fight for This Land. by Esta Terra, in free translation), from the same directors of the documentary Agora Eu Quero Gritar (Right Now I Want to Scream, Brazil/United Kingdom, 2020), about state violence in Rio’s favelas.

With screenings scheduled at the OAB Human Rights Commission, in Campinas, from May 24th to 25th, then at the Maria Antônia Cultural Center, in São Paulo, We Fight for This Land gives a voice to the quilombola and Ka’apor indigenous communities.

Leaders report multiple forms of violence, from cattle ranchers and soybean producers taking possession of their land to structural and political violence, with the police and state government systems working in favor of landowners.

Leo, Sonia and Lily

The partnership between a Guajajara and DiCaprio is nothing new: Edivan’s sister, minister of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, met with the Hollywood star and actress Lily Gladstone, both part of the cast of Killers of the Flower Moon, at an event in Cannes, France, in 2023.

Other highlights of the festival are the feature films A Flor do Buriti, directed by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Massora, awarded at the 2023 Cannes Festival, and A Invenção do Outro, directed by Bruno Jorge and awarded best documentary at the San Diego Latin Film Festival in 2024.

In addition to the exhibitions, the festival features conversation circles promoted by Edivan Guajajara, José Kaeté and Francisco Hyjnõ Krahô.