Film ‘Listen: the land was torn’ shows Kayapó, Yanomami and Munduruku fight against illegal mining

2023-05-22 14:00:00

Official documentary poster directed by Cassandra Mello e Fred Rahal

With premiere scheduled for June 4th in São Paulo, on 12th Ecospeaker Film Festivalthe documentary Listen, the Earth was Torncarried out by the Alliance in Defense of the Territories and partners, proposes a dive into the struggle and thinking of the Kayapó, Yanomami and Munduruku peoples against illegal mining in their territories.

Directed by Cassandra Mello and Fred Rahal, it features recordings made between 2021 and 2022 and testimonials from leaders of the three peoples, the most impacted by the advance of illegal gold mining in the Amazon.

The indigenous leaders of the Alliance in Defense of Territories Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, Beka Munduruku and Maial Paiakan Kayapó have confirmed presence at the opening session.

According to the dossier “Terra Rasgada: how mining advances in the Brazilian Amazon”launched by Aliança in March, mining in these Indigenous Lands soared 495% between 2010 and 2020.

The mining invasion in these regions causes devastating socio-environmental damage, such as deforestation, river pollution, mercury contamination, the spread of diseases – including malaria –, in addition to violent attacks by prospectors.

Munduruku, Yanomami and Kayapó leaders denounce violence and destruction caused by illegal mining in their territories in a film|Teia Documenta

Furthermore, without being able to maintain their ways of life, which are based on hunting, fishing and slash-and-burn agriculture, the indigenous people suffer from food insecurity and child malnutrition. At the beginning of the year, images of Yanomami indigenous people who were victims of the humanitarian crisis in the territory went around the world and stimulated actions by the federal government to combat mining in the region.

The Alliance dossier also explains the mechanisms that promote the advance of illegal, highly mechanized and capitalized mining, and points out the institutional weaknesses of the gold chain that favor the activity, listing a series of measures to combat it.

Learn more: Unpublished dossier explains advance of mining in the Amazon

Alessandra Munduruku during a visit to Yanomami Land|Fred Rahal/Teia Documenta

In testimony to the film, historical leaders such as Davi Kopenawa, Megaron Txucarramãe, Tuíre Kayapó Mẽbêngôkre, Alessandra Korap Munduruku e O-é Paiakan Kayapó tell about the impacts of unbridled exploitation of the forest, such as the contamination of rivers and soil, the increase in violence and crime in the region, in addition to threats to the way of life, culture and spirituality of its peoples.

“You, journalist, listen to this. You have to publicize it to everyone. You have to divulge what I say. My speech has to appear every day, every month in the newspaper. You have to show my speech to these white people who want wood, who want mining, who still don’t know me. You are going to publicize my speech everywhere, spread it around, for people to know, respect the forest, respect the land, and respect our bodies”, says Tuíre Mẽbêngôkre, historical leader of the Kayapó people in the fight against the environmental impacts of the construction of the then named Kararaô Hydroelectric Plant.

The Alliance in Defense of the Territories emerged after the publication of a manifesto letter by nine indigenous organizations from these territories during the Luta Pela Vida camp, in August 2021 (learn more below). The documentary includes records of joint meetings, which took place over the following year in the Munduruku and Kayapó territories, and the celebration of 30 years of the demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Land, held in May 2022.

Film shows the relationship between indigenous peoples and territories|Cassandra Mello/Teia Documenta

“If the forest-land is dry, if it is smoked, if it is burned, we do not exist. If the forest is suffering, I suffer too. If the forest rots, I too am left with wounds, with scars. If the forest burns, my skin also wrinkles”, explains Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa.

The production brings elements from the culture and daily life of the Kayapó, Yanomami and Munduruku peoples, revealing their strength, their beauties and powers, and highlights the impacts that illegal mining has on the three territories.

“Among us, no individualism should prevail. We must remember that we have the same blood, the same river, the same forest. And this is our Munduruku region that we defend. That’s what I wanted to emphasize in order to tell everyone. This is how it has to be, both in the Baixo Tapajós, in the Middle and in the Upper Tapajós. Everyone has to speak with one voice and one collective decision. That will be our strength”, says chief Juarez Saw Munduruku, in the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land.

Directors Cassandra Mello and Fred Rahal recall that, from the first meeting, the leaders established what should be part of the narrative, and highlight the importance of the narration, done personally and predominantly in mother tongues, so that the film plays a role important political role in raising awareness and mobilizing for the defense of the rights of indigenous peoples and territories.

About the Alliance in Defense of the Territories

In August 2021, during the Luta Pela Vida camp in Brasília, leaders of the Indigenous Lands most affected by the advance of illegal mining got together to write a document that publicly expressed their repudiation of mining activity — considered “a disease that white people are suffering from”. bringing it into our territories”.

The manifesto letter was signed by nine indigenous organizations: Hutukara Associação Yanomami, Instituto Raoni, Instituto Kabu, Associação Bebô Xikrin do Bacajá, Associação Floresta Protegida, Associação das Mulheres Munduruku Wakoborũn, Associação Indígena Pariri do Médio Tapajós, Hwenama Associação dos Povos Yanomami de Roraima and Wanasseduume Ye’kwana Association.

From this meeting, the proposal was born to form an alliance between the Kayapó, Yanomami and Munduruku, to strengthen the struggles that each of these people promotes in defense of their lands. The articulation developed throughout 2022, in actions promoted jointly by leaders of these peoples in the territories, in large mobilizations in the capitals and, also, internationally. The publication of the dossier and the documentary Listen: the earth has been torn apart are part of the efforts promoted by the initiative.

Datasheet

Title: Listen: The Earth Has Been Torn

Directed by: Cassandra Mello and Fred Rahal

Production: Teia Documenta and Alliance in Defense of the Territories

Also: 2023

Duration: 1h 28m

Support

Political Council of the Alliance in Defense of the Territories: Dário Kopenawa Yanomami, Alessandra Korap Munduruku, Maial Paiakan Kayapó, Júlio Ye’kwana, Ademir Kaba Munduruku, Doto Takak-Ire Kayapó

Associations: Hutukara Yanomami Association, Da’uk Indigenous Association, Kabu Institute, Yanomami Kumirãyõma Women’s Association, Pariri Indigenous Association, Protected Forest Association, Wanasseduume Ye’kwana Association, Raoni Institute

Partner Institutions: Instituto Socioambiental, Greenpeace Brazil

Support: Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)