Reel Movie Mondays: Winter 2023

The Territory

Directed by Alex Pritz | Brazil/Denmark/USA | 83 mins | Portuguese w/ English subtitles, The Impact Series | Rated PG

Partially shot by the film’s subjects and filmed over the course of several years, director Alex Pritz’s feature documentary debut follows the struggle of the Uru-eu-wau-wau people as they defend their land from deforestation. With breathtaking cinematography of the dramatic landscape as parts of the Amazon rainforest burn, The Territory offers insight into the precious — and precarious — ecosystems under threat.

A still from The Territory by Alex Pritz, an official selection of the World Cinema: Documentary Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

There are fewer than 200 people living in the Uru-eu-wau-wau community, and the film follows how this small group of mighty land defenders protect the sovereignty of more than 18,000 square kilometres of rainforest from non-natives who seek to exploit it. Bitaté Uru-eu-wau-wau, a young Indigenous leader, and his mentor Neidinha Bandeira decide to try a new tactic to protect their land and community: they create their own news media team to reclaim their story, risking their lives to expose the truth.

The Territory is an arresting look at the tireless fight of the Uru-eu-wau-wau, and the ever-present dangers of exploitative expansion and colonialism.