Neidinha Bandeira and Txai Suruí | New Sundance-Winning Documentary 'The Territory' and a Planet in Need of Salvation

Left to right: Neidinha wears 132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE shirt and pants and CHLOÉ shoes. Txai wears MARA HOFFMAN dress and CARIUMA shoes.

The gravity of climate change has been known about for years, but now the Amazon rainforest—the lungs of planet earth—is almost at the point of no return. The Amazon is the biggest tropical forest with the most biodiversity in the world, and if we lose it, we lose our planet. Luckily for many, there are groups of Indigenous people fighting to save the Amazon, fighting to extend our species’ livelihood. In 2022 alone, however, more than 170 Indigenous people were killed defending their land in Brazil according to Bandeira. These groups cannot do it on their own anymore.

The Territory is a new documentary film addressing the plight of the Amazon and those attempting to rescue it. Directed by Alex Pritz, it follows the tireless fight of the Indigenous Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people of Brazil to protect the rainforest against major deforestation. The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people were first contacted in 1981, and during that ‘contact,’ a genocide saw nearly all its persons perish. Now, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people only consist of approximately 200 individuals.  

The film, which premiered at Sundance this year, won the Special Jury Award for Documentary Craft and the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. At its center is environmental and human rights activist, Neidinha Bandeira, who has spent over four decades working directly with these Indigenous communities to defend their rights, continuously risking her life to protect the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau from land-grabbers. “The chance to show what is happening has already decreased our risk of dying and disappearing,” says Bandeira of what the film has given the community and the impact it has had. 

Joining Bandeira in the fight against deforestation is her daughter, an Indigenous activist and one of the film’s executive producers, Txai Suruí, who at just 25 years old is a leading global figure in environmental activism. After studying law in Brazil, she is now using her career to protect her people’s land. “The government of our state tried to sell 10 environmentally protected areas,” explains Suruí of one of their victories. “We filed a lawsuit to keep these areas protected, and we won. Now we have gained those 10 areas that were initially outside of our territory.” Suruí pauses, then adds, “It shows the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people being the resistance, and if we save the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau indigenous land, we can save all of the Amazon. If we lose this forest, we can’t win the war against climate change. We don’t have a future.”  

Left to right: Neidinha wears 132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE shirt and pants. Txai wears MARA HOFFMAN dress.

Besides a stark reminder of our planet’s fragility and the greed that has caused much of it, The Territory has given the Uru-eu-wau-wau people tools to further strengthen their communication with the outside world. They have created an impact campaign and are building a media center, where they will conduct workshops to teach other Indigenous people about film, photography, art, and other types of communication. “The documentary has changed a lot for us,” says Suruí. “Now, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau can do their own films without the need for outside help, which is amazing. And they are teaching other Indigenous people how to use drones and cameras as well.” 

On the impact of this decades-long fight on her mental health, Bandeira, who has witnessed every Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau kid grow up, shares, “Sometimes I think we will lose this fight, but because of people like Txai, I gain hope again. Also, with this movie that is made by a full crew of young people—and I am no longer young—but together we are telling the world, ‘You need to get involved. The planet needs you.’ And then looking at you,” she says in my direction, with unerring conviction, “a young person, writing about this. That gives me strength and gives me hope that we will have a better world.” 

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Photographed by Alvin Kean Wong at Seen Artists
Written by Constanza Falco Raez
Styled by John Tan
Hair and Makeup for Neidinha: Brittney Ward at See Management
Hair and Makeup for Txai: Liz Olivier Exclusive Artists