The Territory

Partially shot by the Uru-eu-wau-wau people and filmed over the course of several years, "The Territory" offers an authentic portrait of an Indigenous community’s daily life and struggles in the Brazilian Amazon. With its breathtaking cinematography showcasing the dramatic landscape and richly textured sound design, the film brings audiences deep into the precious ecosystem they are fighting to protect. Since the Uru-eu-wau-wau were first contacted by the Brazilian government in 1981, their territory has become an island of green rainforest surrounded by farms and ranches — the results of four decades of unchecked deforestation. The community has faced environmentally destructive and often violent incursions into their sovereign territory by non-natives seeking to exploit the land. Illegal logging and land clearing invasions have become more frequent and more brazen over the years.