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Invention of the Other film image

The Invention of the Other

A invenção do Outro

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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

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

Brazil

Year

2022

Series

Insights

Language

In Portuguese with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
145 min
Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice

Book Tickets

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Credits

Producer

Bruno Jorge

Screenwriter

Bruno Jorge

Cinematography

Bruno Jorge

Editor

Bruno Jorge

Original Music

Bruno Palazzo

Director

Bruno Jorge headshot

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)

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