(Images courtesy of photojournalist Maurício Torres, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mautorres/)

Our partners:

http://www.aipariri.org

We are privileged to work with indigenous organisation Pariri, which represents seven Munduruku communities along the Tapajós river. Pariri has been active since 1998, fighting for the welfare and the cultural survival of Munduruku communities.  Our crew has been kindly invited by Chief Juarez Saw and Pariri's President Rozeni Saw to spend some time with the community of Sawré Muybu, one of the 3 villages whose land will be directly flooded by the mega-dam.

We will also have the opportunity to meet brave members of the traditional riverine communities of Montanha e Mangabal. They have been living by the Tapajós waters for centuries and have recently, after many years of struggle, scored an unprecedented victory, winning the rights to their land in court. Their land will also be directly affected by the mega-dam.

The issue:

The largest tropical forest on Earth is disappearing at an alarming rate.  

You have heard of the Amazon River, the Tapajos (running through 800km) is one of its largest tributaries in Brazil. It is an artery of life for this majestic forest and sadly one of its last great free flowing rivers. The Brazilian government are now planning the construction of the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric complex, which will be one of the largest in the world, flooding about 73000Ha of mostly rainforest, home not only to invaluable fauna and flora (some of of which is still unknown to science), but also to more than 14000 people, indigenous and riverine communities. It will directly flood not only part of the Munduruku territory of Sawré Muybu, but also the traditional riverside communities of Montanha-Mangabal.

Hundreds of dams are planned or already under construction in the whole Amazon. If these plans go forward, this could have catastrophic effects not only for the forest and the 30million people it supports, but also for the entire world. The Amazon is a major climate regulator.

Shooting in the Amazonian rainforest presents its unique challenges: financing, development, production, shooting conditions due to the location's remoteness. And for that we needed to double in preparation time and acquire extra equipment.

But now we need your help for the next step of our production. Help us recover the transportation and logistical costs so we can continue to make this film.

As our crew is now travelling to distant spots of the Amazon forest; most of your generous contributions will help us recover some of the costs of shooting this film. In addition, to make this film as impactful as possible, we will be sending it to many film festivals in order to raise awareness on this very important issue. 

This is how your money is spent:

We have incredible support for this film. We already have a composer lined up, and we have mentoring guidance from top industry professionals from the BBC Natural History Unit here in Bristol. We will be using the university’s facilities for the postproduction stages.

Ada Bodjolle:

Filmmaker, photographer and motion designer (Check out her work on: www.hypnotiktv.co.uk). Last year she left her job and friends in London to launch on  a new adventure in Bristol: She has been accepted in the prestigious Wildlife Filmmaking Master at University of the West of England in association with the BBC Natural History Unit. As part of her course, she is directing a film in the Amazon Forest. With this film, she is hoping to bring awareness to the plight of the communities of the Tapajós River. She is a rock climber and a dedicated ashtanga yoga practitioner.

Elma Okic:

Peter Durin is rope technician with a strong passion for nature photography. He is our techy wizz, camera assistant and location logistics expert. He is an experienced drone operator, it is not his first time flying in tropical forests. He is a passionate rock and ice climber, ski mountaineer and mountain biker.

As partners Peter and Ada working together in many tropical countries. Here is some of their work:

http://www.hypnotiktv.co.uk/portfolio/panthera-tigris-tigris-tigers-in-ranthambore-national-park/

http://www.hypnotiktv.co.uk/portfolio/prakratik-societys-biogas-program-supported-by-foc-uk-2014/

http://www.hypnotiktv.co.uk/portfolio/salas-tatras-mountains-slovakia/

Members of crew will be travelling to the rainforest. Being in such a remote location poses certain constrains in terms of logistics. We are fortunate to be in touch with the Indigenous organisation Pariri, which is providing knowledge and  invaluable on and off location support.

Our team will be prepared for rainy conditions, we therefore budgeted contingency days to make sure we get all the necessary content for the film.

Your support:

We will not only be raising awareness on a major conservation issue, but we will open a space for members of the communities of the Tapajós River to tell their stories.

These stories should be heard out loud to the world. Together we can make this a reality.