The first Brazilian short co-directed by an Indigenous filmmaker to win Best International Short Documentary at Hot Docs screens alongside feature documentary The Father and the Shaman, with two screenings in June.
London, June 2026 – The short documentary Replikka, co-directed by Indigenous filmmaker Piratá Waurá (Xingu territory) and director Heloisa Passos, will receive its UK Première at BFI Southbank with two screenings as part of the BFI’s Brazil on Film season. Both screenings form a double bill with the feature documentary The Father and the Shaman (dirs. Lawaretê Kaiabi, Felipe Tomazelli and Luís Villaça, Brazil, 2025). The first screening, on Saturday 27 June, will be followed by a Q&A with Felipe Tomazelli, co-director of The Father and the Shaman, and Yula Rocha, producer of Replikka. A second screening, without Q&A, takes place on Tuesday, 30 June at 18:10.
Replikka arrives in London fresh from a landmark international triumph: in May 2026, the film won Best International Short Documentary at Hot Docs, the largest documentary festival in North America, making it eligible to compete for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. It is the first Brazilian short co-directed by an Indigenous filmmaker to receive the Hot Docs award — a historic moment for Indigenous cinema on the world stage.
The film is the culmination of nearly ten years of collaborative research between People’s Palace Projects / Queen Mary University of London, Factum Foundation, anthropologists, archaeologists and the Wauja people, centred on the preservation of their sacred cave, the Kamukuwaká. Produced by PPP/QMUL (UK), 1504 (USA), Maquina Filmes, Fenda Filmes and Performance Filmes (Brazil)
Screening Details
Screening 1 — UK Première + Q&A
Venue: BFI Southbank — Screen NFT2, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE1 8XT
Date & time: Saturday 27 June 2026 — 15:15
Programme: Replikka + The Father and the Shaman
Q&A with: Felipe Tomazelli (co-director, The Father and the Shaman) and Yula Rocha (producer, Replikka)
Tickets: bfi.org.uk
Screening 2
Venue: BFI Southbank — Screen NFT2, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE1 8XT
Date & time: Tuesday 30 June 2026 — 18:10
Programme: Replikka + The Father and the Shaman
Tickets: bfi.org.uk
About The Father and the Shaman
The Father and the Shaman (O Pai e o Pajé) is an 84-minute documentary feature in which Kaiabi filmmaker Lawaretê Kaiabi turns the camera on his own family in the Xingu — where his father is a pastor and his uncle a shaman, as evangelical missions advance into Indigenous territory. Co-directed with Felipe Tomazelli and Luís Villaça. Brazil, 2025. With English subtitles.
About Replikka
Replikka follows the inauguration ritual of a full-scale replica of the sacred Kamukuwaká cave, vandalised in 2018 — the most important cultural heritage site of the Xingu peoples, listed by IPHAN, Brazil’s national heritage institute. The replica was created from a three-dimensional scan of the original engravings, bringing together cutting-edge technology and ancestral Xinguano wisdom.
Synopsis
Replikka (D: Piratá Waurá, Heloisa Passos | P: Mark Slagle, Heloisa Passos, Yula Rocha | Brazil, USA, UK | 2025 | 16 min). In Replikka, technology and Indigenous wisdom merge, creating a contemplative journey and meditation on memory, identity, loss and rebirth. As an act of resistance, this story examines the ancestral truths of the Xinguano people and their sacred territories in the face of destruction. Spoken entirely in the Indigenous language Aruak, and made with the support of young people from the village. With English subtitles.
Voices from the Film
“The replica is an act of resistance to preserve our history, culture and cosmology for future generations.”
— Akari Waurá, chief of the Topepeweke village
“This award belongs to the Wauja people and to all those who believed that technology and ancestral memory could walk together.”
— Heloisa Passos, director
“Hot Docs recognises not only our work, but our people’s struggle for memory and the demarcation of our lands.”
— Piratá Waurá, director