A requiem in Amazonas and a new beginning

The final film in a trilogy documenting the indigenous struggle for land rights was released this year. It focuses on the personal relationship between an indigenous leader and the film-maker which developed slowly during the period of over 30 years that he has been working in Brazil. If Bolsonaro is re-elected it will be disastrous for indigenous people.

Vincent Carelli is an activist film­ maker for indigenous rights in Brazil, and his "Martyrdom" trilogy of films has just been shown at the 20th DocLisboa film festival. This interview by email from Brazil, focuses on his most recent film, "Adeus Capitao" (Goodbye Captain), which tells the story of his long relationship with Krohokrenhum, known as 'O Capitao', the leader of a group of Gaviao Indians (The Hawks), who died in 2020.

Carelli's project Video nas Aldeias (Video in the villages), also trains indigenous people in making their own videos, which are hosted on the website. He has worked with indigenous peoples in four areas of Brazil, and the first film in the trilogy "Corumbiara" (2009) documents a massacre of indigenous people in this area of Rondonia state, in 1985, which was exposed by a courageous worker in Fundac;ao Nacional do India (Funai), the government foundation for indigenous people, for whom Carelli also worked. "Martirio" "Martyrdom" 2017), shows the intensity of the conflict over land between the indigenous peoples and the vicious so-called 'ruralistas', who are supported by Bolsonaro.

The video he brought back from Corumbiara in 1987, showing how the Nambiquara were recovering their traditional festivals and other practices had a big effect on the Gaviao, and Krohokrenhum realised that it could both give them a voice in the world and also preserve their traditional culture.

The Nambiquara name may be familiar to readers of "Tristes Tropiques" by the famous anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss.

The interview was first published on the website of The Prisma Multicultural Newspaper on 31st October 2022, and can be read with links and photos there: https://theprisma.co.uk/2022/10/31/a-requiem-in-amazonas-and-a-new-beginning/