The Territory

Director: Alex Pritz, 2022 Sundance Film Festival Winner of the Audience Award, Special Jury Award, and Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary, PG

An immersive on-the-ground look at the tireless fight of the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by illegal settlers and an association of nonnative farmers in the Brazilian Amazon. With awe-inspiring cinematography showcasing the titular landscape and richly textured sound design, the film takes audiences deep into the Uru-eu-wau-wau community and provides unprecedented access to the settlers illegitimately burning and clearing land along with a network of farmers fighting to legitimize their illegal land grab. Partially shot by the Uru-eu-wau-wau people, the film relies on vérité footage captured over three years as the community risks their lives to set up their own news media team in the hopes of exposing the truth. “A gripping portrait of an endangered community for whom nature is both their precious environment and the facet of humanity that can all too easily be turned malicious” —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times