North American Premiere
An intimate portrait of people who have never encountered an “other”. In 2019, FUNAI, a Brazilian state protection agency which works for Indigenous rights, sent an expedition of 30 people into the heart of the Amazon rainforest, to make first contact, provide medical services, locate and reunite separated family members with the Korubo, an isolated Indigenous group.
As they travel between the borders of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia, alert to the constant dangers in the deep jungle, the lines between subject and object are blurred and at times reversed, as the natural dynamic and camaraderie of the group is reshaped around Bruno Pereira, a FUNAI veteran who was killed while working in the same region several years after filming, and Xuxu, a charismatic Korubo leader separated from his family.
Director Bruno Jorge crafts an immersive ethnographic journey that breaks apart monolithic assumptions in favour of an honest perspective of the Korubo that defies easy classification. A powerful, essential film, deftly blending poignancy and human dignity against a background of unanswered political and ethical questions.
Series Media Partner
Community Partner
Brazil
2022
Insights
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Bruno Jorge
Screenwriter
Bruno Jorge
Cinematography
Bruno Jorge
Editor
Bruno Jorge
Original Music
Bruno Palazzo
Director
Bruno Jorge
Bruno Jorge studied Social Communication in São Paulo, Brazil, Documentary Film in Paris, France, and Master in Performing Arts in Liège, Belgium. Influenced by ethnography, visual anthropology and experimental cinema, Bruno has made over 20 films.
Filmography: Beco (2012); What I Could Be If I Were (2015); Piripkura (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
Erupcja
Charli xcx headlines this indie gem about a young English couple coming unmoored over a few days in Warsaw. Will means to propose. Beth has cold feet -- and an escape hatch she has barely admitted to herself... Think Before Sunrise 2025.
The Doll
In our new Film Studies series on Thursdays, Devan Scott guides us through the evolution of lighting techniques from the silent era to the present day. Each presentation will include a classic film screening; this week, The Doll (1919).
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.