Narrated by the indigenous people themselves, the film shows the impacts of monoculture in the Wawi territory, of the Kisêdjê people, in the state of Mato Grosso
The film Sukande Kasáká | Sick Earth, won the award for Best Documentary in the Brazilian Short Film Competition and also the Mistika Award for Best Documentary in the Brazilian Short Film Competition during the É Tudo Verdade Festival, which took place from April 3 to 13 in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
As a next step, it will be included in the list of works that will be evaluated for nomination for the Oscar, a traditional award that recently recognized the feature film. I'm still here as Best International Film, and it is expected that it will have space for screening during COP30, in Belém.
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The story follows Kamikia and Lewayki Khisêtjê, the former also the director of the film, who witness the degradation of their ancestral land and the silent consequences of the spraying of poison that affect the forest and rivers that provide their people with a livelihood. As signs of contamination become increasingly evident — from changes in the ecosystem to mysterious diseases affecting children and the elderly — the community is forced to make the decision to abandon their largest village, Ngojhwere, and seek a new place where they can live in safety.
The poison of pesticides dissolves borders between farms and Indigenous Land, exposing a brutal interconnection between the Kisêdjê and a production model that advances without looking back, slowly making the land uninhabitable without the need for weapons or fences - only by progressively poisoning everything that gives life. The scientific research requested by the Khisêtjê themselves confirms what they already felt in their bodies: 28 types of pesticides were detected in their water, in hunting, fishing and even in the rain, elements fundamental to their subsistence.
Throughout the narrative, the voices of the elders mix with the concerns of the young, who question the future of water, food and animals. Kamikia Khisêtjê, an indigenous filmmaker and documentarian, uses images to record the destruction around him and the struggle of his people, exposing the advance of soybean plantations over the forest and the constant arrival of spraying planes that pour poison on the edges of the forest. The camera also becomes a tool of resistance.
Composed of images captured over 12 years, the film builds an intimate portrait of the Khisêtjê struggle, revealing the transformations of the territory and the accumulated impacts of contamination over time. Sukande Kasáká | Sick Earth It is not just a story about environmental contamination, but about the attempt to erase a culture and the resilience of a people who, despite everything, reorganize and resist.
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