Oscar nominee: exclusive interview with the cast of ‘The Territory’ for CENARIUM MAGAZINE

Iury Lima – From Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – The fight of a people from the Amazon against deforestation, illegal logging and all kinds of environmental crime around their territory – one of the most important Indigenous Lands (TIs) of Rondônia -, is among the bets for the highest award in cinema in 2023: the Oscar statuette. The story is one of struggle and resistance of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau ethnic group, currently made up of less than 200 people.

The stars of ‘The Territory’, the activists Bitaté Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, Txai Suruí and Ivaneide Bandeira, better known as Neidinha Suruí, reveal in this exclusive interview to CENARIUM MAGAZINE that seeing the title among the list of pre-indicated nominees seems more like a dream. They also celebrate the global visibility given to the indigenous struggle in Rondônia with the spotlight turned on the work.

“I had no idea how far we would get”, the protagonist and filmmaker Bitaté Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tells the report. “My joy went from zero to one hundred in one second, because there is all my work and all my reality,” adds the young activist.

Read also: Txai Suruí speaks of indigenous peoples’ resistance in national award: ‘We fight with our lives’

The documentary film included the participation of indigenous filmmakers, was directed by the american Alex Pritz and executive produced by activist Txai Suruí, who gained international prominence when she spoke at the Glasgow Climate Conference in 2021. It is a co-production between Brazil, Denmark and the United States.

Announced last Wednesday, 21, among the chosen to continue in the “fight” for a spot at the Oscars, ‘The Territory’ won a previous dispute with more than 140 works. Now, it competes with 14 other features in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. The final list of nominees will be revealed on January 28 and the award ceremony will take place on March 12, 2023.

Struggle and Resistance

The film revolves around the entire struggle and resistance of a single community. It shows how the surveillance teams, founded by the indigenous people themselves, act against every type of invader, especially land grabbers and cattle ranchers. From above, for example, they monitor the advance of degradation around the reserve, which has almost 2 million hectares of land, with cutting-edge technology: drones equipped with high-definition cameras.

“The monitoring teams have been in existence for a long time (…) we manage to divide this work between men and women, around 30 to 40 people, more or less”, explains Bitaté. “Now we use technological data to find out about each deforestation point, such as GPS and satellites”, says the activist.

Read more: Technology in the villages: indigenous people in Rondônia monitor territories using drones

Three years of production

The recordings captured the day to day life of the indigenous people and allies in the defense of the reserve. Takes that yielded emotional and dramatic moments on screen, such as the news of the murder of activist Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, killed in 2020 for denouncing the exploitation of wood in the region. The whole story is told to the spectator by Bitaté and Neidinha, the leading threads of ‘The Territory‘.

Also read: After two years, murderer of indigenous person Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau is arrested in Rondônia

“It’s a documentary, it’s real life”, stresses the indigenous woman and president of the Kanindé Ethnoenvironmental Defence Association.

“For three years and three months, they [the producers] accompanied us there, all the time. There came a moment, I think half way through the first month, when I didn’t even care anymore. I thought: ‘I’m going to forget that there are people filming me’, so much so that the film takes my worst moments. The worst moments that I and the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau-Wau went through”, said Neidinha.

“The film is about a very tragic moment in Brazilian history. The last four years have been the most tragic for environmental issues and human rights in Brazil. I would even compare it to the period of military dictatorship”, lamented the indigenous woman.

Neidinha reveals that she watched the complete film only once and that she always stayed outside the sessions of the feature film, during the publicity campaign, so as not to have to relive the past. “When the film ends, I go back in, because it is like reliving all that again, those were very difficult moments”, she confessed.

Knowledge as a weapon

Bitaté Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau reveals that even though ‘The Territory’ is touring the world, now with around 30 awards, “the invasions, the pressure and the threats remain”. “We are resisting, as we have always worked, so that the invasions decrease. We are still in the fight”, he stated.

“I say that, we indigenous people, I, for example, am not protecting the Indigenous Land only for myself. I am protecting it for the isolated peoples, for the population of Rondonia, too, knowing that the main springs come out of Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory and serve to irrigate several cities (…) the water that passes through the state is from our territory and it is very important to protect it”, the film’s protagonist also says.

“I think that people need to know more about Rondonia and also to give a hand to the film, to support us on environmental issues. Few people in our state have this knowledge”, he added.

Agrees with him the activist and executive producer, Txai Suruí. “We know that in order to reverse this situation, we will need the effort of many people, not only ours: the government, civil society and private initiative. But one difference is that you can do something and bring these people together when they know what is happening, when they are aware of the reality of what is happening here”, said Txai Suruí.

“And how can we charge, if people don’t know, if they are not informed, and never understood why the story told to them was different? I believe that our film, ‘O Território’, brings this notion of how important the indigenous peoples of Brazil are, especially when we talk about forest conservation”, said the executive producer.

As for running for the Oscars, Txai says that “the penny hasn’t drop yet”. “This is out of our reality. Imagine me coming up to someone and saying: ‘so, my film is in the Oscars’. We haven’t even understood the weight of this yet”, she said enthusiastically.

Preservation is necessary

“The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Land is of great importance for Rondonia, for Amazonia and for the planet, because it is a barrier”, warns the indigenous leader and president of the NGO Kanindé.

“It concentrates the sources of the main rivers in Rondonia, so it is important for biodiversity, for cultural issues, for human rights and for the economy and agriculture of this state. If you destroy the TI, you have a huge impact on the economy”, he adds.

Check out the trailer of ‘O Território’

In Brazil, in 2023

Running in foreign cinemas, ‘The Territory’ will arrive in Brazil in 2023, through the streaming service Disney+, confirmed Neidinha Suruí to CENARIUM MAGAZINE. Subscribers to the platform will have the film available in the catalogue from January 13.

“Imagine a film like this being at the Oscars. It will shed light on this whole environmental, climate and activist murder issue in Brazil. So it is super important and I am counting on it”, concluded Neidinha Surui.

“We know the power of audiovisual and technology within the territories. I have no words about competing at a global level. I am very happy because, if we succeed, it is Rondonia, the North of Brazil reaching the Oscar”, declared, finally, Bitaté Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau.

See also: Cenarium Recommends tips for films that portray indigenous reality