Directed by filmmakers Francy Baniwa, Kerexu Martim and Vanuzia Pataxó, documentary filmed during the 20th Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL) focuses on the many indigenous ways of existing and resisting attacks on their rights
To celebrate diversity and indigenous communication, on this International Indigenous Peoples Day (09/08), the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) in partnership with Rede Katahirine launches the documentary Our way of fighting, which brings the perspective of three indigenous women filmmakers on one of the main spaces for indigenous mobilization in the country today, the Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL).
Watch the movie:
Directed by Francy Baniwa, Kerexu Martim and Vanuzia Pataxó, from Katahirine – Rede Audiovisual das Mulheres Indígenas, in collaboration with ISA's Indigenous Peoples Program in Brazil, the video was filmed in April 2024, during the 20th edition of the Camp, and gives attention to the plurality of forms of indigenous movements. “We women can notice many things that no one notices”, highlights Vanuzia.
To compose this portrait, the filmmakers approached around 50 representatives of different peoples, most of them women, exploring the knowledge and practices that each of them brings, year after year, to the mobilization. They are singers, cooks, artists, students, elders and young leaders – characters like Cleide da Silva Pedro, from the Guarani Kaiowá people, who, in the last edition, was divided between the general security team and worked as a cook in the delegation of her people in the after-hours. “We see here that the mobilization is collective, it is not separate, it is not youth, men, women. It’s a collective fight between children and the elderly”, says Francy Baniwa.
Moving through the backdrop of black tarps and yellow ropes that mark the day-to-day life of the camp, the images transport the public from the delegation camps to the craft tents, passing, of course, through the meetings, plenary sessions and marches in defense of indigenous rights. All of this from the cameras and voices of the filmmakers, who are also characters in the video and started audiovisual research through the contributions of their own people.
Among the Guarani, for example, one of the generating themes were the Mborai songs, many of which deal with the struggle for land, as revealed by filmmaker Kerexu Martim, recalling the verses of one of them: “Pemeē jevy, pemeē jevy ore yvy / Return our lands, give us back our lands.” Among the people of Rio Negro, Francy Baniwa begins by focusing on the facial paintings of Desana women, done not only to beautify, but to protect and prepare their bodies for mobilization.
It is by remembering teachings from the elders of her people that Vanuzia Pataxó introduces us to one of the video's main thrusts: the idea that among indigenous peoples, dances and songs are fundamental weapons of political action, as important or more important in these contexts as speeches or documents. She is the one who introduces us to the songs and stories of Dona Coruja, one of the great singers and leaders of the Pataxó people, who, in the words of the filmmaker, “gives an entire history lesson through a song”.
“Goodbye goodbye to Brasília, see you next year
Goodbye goodbye to Brasília, see you next year
If I don't die I'll come back
God willing, I’ll come” – Dona Coruja
Throughout the documentary, the public is invited to understand why body decorations, traditional foods, musical instruments, collective songs and dances, among others, are not just elements to showcase the cultures of each people, but have their own uses and powers, capabilities of communication and transformation of reality. This is what, for example, the leadership of the Rikbaktsa people teaches when explaining that their headdress is used specifically to go to war or the leadership of the Maxakali people, when explaining that the designs that adorn their dress are connected to the rituals performed with the yamīyxop spirits .
In addition to the songs and dances, slogans such as “Tell the people to move forward!” are also highlighted, especially in the scenes of the two large marches held during the 20th ATL against the setbacks to indigenous rights.
Remember:
In Congress and on the streets of Brasília, the indigenous movement shouts: no to Marco Temporal!
Through the words and songs of the characters, we also understand why demanding rights by going to Brasília, with large collective demonstrations, has been, for more than twenty years, a central movement for countless indigenous collectives – and why, certainly, they will continue to repeat this movement in years to come.
About “Our way of fighting”
Synopsis
The largest indigenous mobilization in the country is also a meeting place between the multidiverse knowledge and practices of indigenous peoples in Brazil. Through the eyes of three indigenous women filmmakers, the public is invited to learn about the daily life of the 20th Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL) and discover how different indigenous ways of existing are also expressed as unique ways of fighting.
Technical sheet
Direction and images: Francy Baniwa, Kerexu Martim and Vanuzia Pataxó / Rede Katahirine
Executive production: Tatiane Klein, Luiza de Souza Barros, Mariana Soares, Moreno Saraiva Martins and Luma Prado / ISA; Sophia Pinheiro, Mari Corrêa, Victoria Moawad / Instituto Catitu
Editing: Manoela Rabinovitch / Catitu Institute
Finishing: Lion Bed
Organized by: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Katahirine – Rede Audiovisual das Mulheres Indígenas and Instituto Catitu
Year: 2024
Country: Brazil
Duration: 15 min
Support: Moore Foundation, European Union and Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
About International Indigenous Peoples Day
Established by the United Nations in 1995, August 9 aims to draw attention to the importance of indigenous peoples and the guarantees provided for them in the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights. Among other rights, the declaration ensures the right of these peoples to self-determination, communication and difference: “Indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples and at the same time recognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves themselves different and to be respected as such”. Learn more
About the Katahirine Network
Katahirine – Indigenous Women's Audiovisual Network was created with the aim of creating a collective space to strengthen and make visible the audiovisual production of indigenous women in Brazil and Latin America. As the first initiative to map female indigenous cinema in Brazil, we hope that this will be an important tool for knowledge and dissemination about the cinema made by us, indigenous women, as well as a source of data for research and public access. A space focused on the protagonism of indigenous women, agency and political role in our contexts, inside and outside the villages: we act in decision-making and resource management of audiovisual productions and create according to our conceptions of the world and life . Katahirine is a word from the Manchineri ethnic group that means constellation. As its name suggests, Katahirine is the plurality, connection and union of diverse women who support each other and promote indigenous women in Brazilian audiovisual. It is a collective articulation, where we can discuss and build a safe space for narratives, taking into account not only the collective body of the network, but the subjectivity of each participant, as a thinking and acting person in all spaces.
The filmmakers introduce themselves
Vanuzia Bonfim Vieira
I am Pataxó indigenous. I work as a filmmaker and teacher. I directed and recorded the feature film Strength of the Pataxó Women of Aldeia Mãe (2019). In the community, in addition to being a teacher, I am a mother, artisan and participant in various cultural events. I graduated in Social and Human Sciences from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and received my master's degree in Teaching and Ethnic-Racial Relations from the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB). I currently work with direction and production of videos related to indigenous movements and the Barra Velha village, Porto Seguro (BA).
Kerexu Martim
I'm 20 years old, I live in the Kalipety village in the Tenondé Porã Indigenous Land, in São Paulo – SP. I participated in two audiovisual courses. One of them was in my village and lasted two weeks. The second was in Acre. I went there with two other Guarani friends from the community and we edited our films. In 2023, I released my first film “Aguyjevete Avaxi'i”, produced by Instituto Catitu. The film received an honorable mention in the It's All True Festival 2024 and the Helena Ignez award at the 27th Tiradentes Film Festival.
Francy Baniwa
I'm Francineia Bitencourt Fontes, also known as Francy Baniwa. Indigenous woman, anthropologist, photographer, filmmaker and researcher of the Baniwa people, I was born in the community of Assunção, on the Lower Içana River, Upper Rio Negro Indigenous Land, municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM). Engaged in organizations and the indigenous movement of Rio Negro for a decade, I act, work and research in the areas of indigenous ethnology, gender, indigenous organizations, memory, narrative, photography and audiovisual. I graduated in Sociology in 2016 from the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM). I have a master's degree (2019) and a doctorate in Social Anthropology at the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPGAS-MN/UFRJ). In 2008, I took a technical course in Ethnodevelopment at the Federal Institute of Amazonas (IFAM) and, in 2009, in Environmental Management at the Amazon Center for Indigenous Training of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (CAFI/COIAB). Between 2010 and 2013, I worked as an Elementary School teacher at the Kariamã Indigenous State School, in my community. I was president of the Baixo Içana Women's Association (AMIBI) in 2013, and coordinator of the Department of Indigenous Women of Rio Negro of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (DMIRN/FOIRN) between 2014 and 2016. I coordinate the International Technical Cooperation Project “Safeguarding Cross-border Indigenous Languages”, produced by a partnership between UNESCO and the Indian Museum, entitled “Life and Art of Baniwa Women: A look from the inside out”, qualifying the ceramic pieces from the researcher’s first collection indigenous people, editing videos about ceramics, roça and its derivatives and tucum, in addition to producing a catalog of photographs and holding a virtual exhibition. I am a researcher at the Laboratory of Anthropology of Art, Ritual and Memory (LARMe) and the Center for Symmetrical Anthropology (NAnSi) at UFRJ, and at the Center for Indigenous Amazon Studies (NEAI) at UFAM. In audiovisual, I directed the work Kupixá asui peé itá – The countryside and its paths (2020). Currently, I coordinate the ecological, sustainable and pioneering project for the production of Amaronai Itá – Kunhaitá Kitiwara cloth pads, financed by the Rio Negro Indigenous Fund (FIRN/FOIRN), together with the Organization of the Indigenous Community of the District of Assunção do Içana (OCIDAI) , whose purpose is the empowerment and autonomy of women in the Alto-Rio-Negrino indigenous territory.
Loading