Camera-Body: Indigenous Films

15th Mar - 17 Mar
Cinema Trindade

By the occasion of the Portuguese premiere of the most recent film by João Salaviza and Renée Messora, A Flor do Buriti, the School of Arts presents an Indigenous Cinemas Film Program, at Cinema Trindade, as part of the annual It wasn't Cabral: reviewing silences and omissions.

This is a program created in partnership with forumdoc.bh - Belo Horizonte Documentary and Ethnographic Film Festival, which in its 27 annual editions has as one of its programming priorities the presentation and reflection on filmography produced by directors from different indigenous peoples living today in Brazil.

With the presence of Olinda Wanderley and Sueli Maxakali (director), and Junia Torres (curator).

This event was sponsored by National Funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology under the projects UIDB/0622/2020 and UIDP/0622/2020.

More Information

15th Mar at 19:00
*Session commented by Nuno Crespo and Ellen Lima

Mãri hi /The Dream Tree
by Morzaniel Ɨramari
Amazon, Roraima/Brazil, 2023, 17'

When the flowers of the Mãri tree bloom, dreams arise. The words of a great shaman lead a dreamlike experience through the synergy between cinema and Yanomami dreams, presenting poetics and teachings from the people of the forest.

Thuë Pihi Kuuwi / A Woman Thinking
by Aida Harika Yanomami, Edmar Tokorino Yanomami and Roseane Yariana Yanomami
Brazil/Amazon, Roraima/Brazil, 2023, 9'

A Yanomami woman watches a shaman while preparing Yãkoana, food for the spirits. Based on the narrative of a young indigenous woman, the Yãkoana that feeds the Xapiri and allows shamans to enter the world of spirits also proposes a meeting of perspectives and imaginations.

Yuri U Xëatima Thë / Fishing with Timbó
by Aida Harika Yanomami, Edmar Tokorino Yanomami and Roseane Yariana Yanomami
Brazil/Amazon, Roraima/Brasil, 2023, 10'

Two young Yanomami filmmakers describe the process of fishing with timbó, a vine traditionally used to stun fish. The meeting of voices and perspectives suggests the re-enchantment of images as a way of telling stories.

Tekowe Nhepyrun / The Source of the Soul
by Alberto Alvares
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 2015, 48'

The film follows with surprising closeness the birth of a child within the Guarani tradition, with local midwives. Closeness that only the presence of the Guarani filmmaker could achieve, as well as maintaining the sequence in the film. Participate in the Guarani perspective of the renewal of life, in the baptism ritual, the occasion in which the soul of the little human being is handed over to him by Nhanderu (the Creator).

15th Mar at 21:30
*Session commented by Sueli Maxakali (director) and Júnia Torres (curator from forumdoc.bh)

Nūhū Yãg Mū Yõg Hãm/ Essa terra é nossa!
by Isael Maxakali, Sueli Maxakali, Carolina Canguçu, Roberto Romero
Brazil/Minas Gerais, 2020, 70'

In the past, white people didn't exist and we lived hunting with our yãmĩyxop spirits. But the white people came, cut down the forests, dried up the rivers and drove the animals away.
Today, our long trees are gone, the white people have surrounded us and our land is tiny.
But our yãmĩyxop are very strong and taught us the stories and songs of the ancients who walked here.

16th Mar at 19:00
*Session commented by Olinda Tupinambá (director)

Kaapora, o chamado das matas
by Olinda Muniz Silva Wanderley
Brazil, Bahia, 2020, 20'

A narrative of the connection between indigenous peoples and the Earth and their spirituality, from the point of view of Tupinambá director, Olinda Yawar, who develops an environmental recovery project on her people's lands. With the indigenous worldview as a lens, Kaapora and other spiritual characters are the central line of the film's narrative and argument.

Ibirapema
by Olinda Yawar Tupinambá
Brazil, Bahia, 2022, 50'

Traveling between the mythical world and the everyday world, Ibirapema, a Tupinambá indigenous woman, transmutes and travels through space and time, dialoguing, wherever she goes, with the world of Western art, with the city and its concrete spaces and domesticated forests.

16th Mar at 21:30
*Session presented by Hỳjnõ Krahô, Cruwakwỳj Krahô, Renée Nader Messora, João Salaviza

Ketwajê
by Mentuwajê Guardiões da Cultura (Krahô) and Beture Collective (Mebêngôkre-Kayapó)
Brazil, Tocantins, 2023, 77'

The Mentuwajê Guardians of Culture (a group of young Krahô filmmakers) invite the Beture Collective (Mebêngôkre-Kayapó) to visit their village and attend the Kêtwajê festival – an important initiation ritual that has not happened for ten years. For several days, children and teenagers go through various "tests" to transform into adult warriors, under the watchful eye shared by local filmmakers and Mebêngôkre-Kayapó guests.

Cupē Te Mē Iquêtjê Jipej Catêjê / Homem Branco Massacrou O Meu Povo Krahô
by Francisco Hỳjnõ Krahô and Felipe Kometani Melo
Brazil, Tocantins, 2023, 41'

Zacarias Ropkà escaped the brutal massacre suffered by the Krahô in 1940, when farmers in the region joined together to attack several villages, with their groups of armed peasants. In just one day, dozens of people were savagely murdered, mainly women and children. Seventy years later, Ropká shares with younger people the horrors he witnessed and how he managed to survive.

17th Mar at 21:30
Crowrã / A Flor do Buriti
by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora
Portugal/Brazil, Tocantins, 2023, 124'

In 1940, two children from the Krahô indigenous people found an ox dangerously close to their village in the darkness of the forest.
It was the harbinger of a violent massacre, perpetuated by farmers in the region.
In 1969, during the Military Dictatorship, the Brazilian State encouraged many of the survivors to join a military unit. Today, faced with old and new threats, the Krahô continue walking on their bleeding land, reinventing infinite forms of resistance every day.