Inês Hargreaves

In 1985, a daring worker of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Brazil denounced a massacre in the lawless region of Corumbiara. The investigations turned to a series of indigenous genocides in the area. Spanning 20 years, the film shows the search for proof and the version of the survivors, when they were finally found, hiding in the forest, terrified of white men.

During the height of the military dictatorship, Jorge Bodanzky documented the construction of the Humboldt University [research station] in Mato Grosso. While flying over the surrounding area—amidst the dense, unbroken forest—he captured an intriguing image: a large maloca (communal indigenous dwelling) where the inhabitants were attempting to strike the plane with arrows. Half a century later, the filmmaker uses this moment as a starting point to revisit—without a script—his long-standing connection to the Amazon and the story behind that image, through an approach that is both spontaneous and intimate.