The 1st Brazil Indigenous Film Festival UK

The first edition of this three-day festival came to London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in October 2021 in the lead up to COp26,  the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, presenting a selection of 12 short films, documentaries and animations created by Indigenous filmmakers from Brazil. The project was a partnership between People’s Palace Projects and ICA, funded by Queen Mary University of London and The University of Manchester, and supported by APIB – Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil.

In May 2023, we launch ECHOES Indigenous Film festival, again in partnership with the ICA.

The work on show celebrated rituals and heritage from the region, asserting rights to their lands and cultural expression, all of which has been brazenly dismantled and vilified under Brazil’s current government. The filmmakers addressed these issues both poetically and provocatively, seeking to open up conversations about our role in preserving the planet and what we can learn from Indigenous people.

The programme, which also was available online on the ICA digital platform, was curated by award-winning Indigenous filmmaker Takumã Kuikuro and Dr Christian Fischgold (lecturer in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at State University of Campinas and GCRF Visiting Researcher at the University of Manchester School of Arts, Languages, and Cultures), with days devoted to:

A programme of short works about different forms of Indigenous struggle – symbolic, practical, political, mythological – for the right to land.

From sport to religion, myths to social narratives, this four-film programme documented and celebrated the Maxakali and Kisedjê peoples in rural Brazil, and showed that while rituals may be political, the political can also be ritualistic.

Parakanã, Guarani–Nhandewa and Guarani–Kaiowá filmmakers produced a video-orality to present Indigenous communities’ historical, social and philosophical perspectives.

The opening night was followed by a conversation with filmmaker Takumã Kuikuro, Survival International Fiona Watson and ABIP young activist Samela Sateré Mawé, moderated by People’s Palace Projects’ director Paul Heritage. Watch the Q&A below.

Due to the enormous success of the inaugural weekend, the festival was extended to an extra week at the ICA.