"Amérindiens"

The Project

Today in Brazil, the Native Americans aren’t more than 70,000. Yet, those who were 7 millions in the 16th century remain in the heart of the Brazilian culture. Their history, rich and passionate, however still remains unknown by most.

Through these interviews of specialists, with meetings in the Amazon with the Brazilians more or less integrated, the documentary would aim to show the richness of the Native American culture but overall of the problems to which the Amazonian are confronted with. 

In fact, on June 1st, as if deforestation, cultivation of agrofuels or GM soy were not enough, the Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA had taken on the project of construction of the dam Belomonte which then implicated the destruction of 1500 km2 of forest. A forest that has always permitted the Indians to hunt, fish, look after themselves and overall conserve their independence. 

A catastrophe as Ranoi points out, chief of the Kayapo tribe who denounces the thousands of Indians who will be forced to save the city and the disastrous ecological consequences for the Amazon.

I would then like to realize a documentary of a yet unknown time limit, to conduct interviews with specialists and with Native Indians regarding the Brazilian culture, the history of these Native Americans and the problems considered the greatest.

I would also like to show the actual American Indian populations in Brazil and try to understand the link between history and the diversity in this particular country.

For that I will blend work in Paris and Brazil in this order:

First initiative:

My project will start off with some interviews centered around the history of the Brazilian people with the professor De Alencastro of the Sorbonne. He will attempt to explain to me the consequences of this complex history in actuality and the diversity from Brazil. Interviews that I will try to place onto the site of Ulule as soon as possible.

Second initiative:

I will depart to Sao Paulo with the goal of finding the ethnologist Luis Donisete Grupioni,a specialist of the Amazonian people.

Third Initiative:

I’ll head in the direction of Rio de Janeiro to meet with Cristina Rodrigues Léal, Brazilian anthropologist. This will be in hopes of explaining to me the ecological consequences but more importantly the sociological consequences of the evolution of Brazil within the lives of these indigenous people.

Fourth Initiative

Depart to Brasilia in the hopes of finding a political angle regarding BeloMonte by means of the interviews and the point of views taken. This will allow me to understand the magnitude of this argument that has agitated Brazil for many years and which provokes strong disputes in the country! The Brazilian capital is in fact the mecca of these Indian debates, the main stronghold of manifestation and protest campsites. 

Fifth initiative

Travel to Belem, a big city in the heart of the Amazonian forest where it’ll be simpler to start the interviews directly with the main people concerned. Thus, I will better understand how the Indians tried to live in the bosom of a country in the midst of perpetual constant change. 

Sixth initiative

I will then travel to Manaus with the goal of continuing these interviews but also of finding, with luck, Raoni. Chief of one of the biggest tribes of the Amazon, this great man represents the protest of these Indians for many years and the active fight for their quality of life.

And in the end?

When I would have obtained enough material, I will return to France to be able to finalize the editing of this documentary and diffuse it thanks to my university and of course thanks to your help if you grant me it. Thereby, this coverage would be diffused in the internet but also, due to the support of the mayor of my city, into the schools. This will then possibly sensitize certain people to the cause that I want to shed light on.

Photos de Serge Guiraud (couverture) et André Deak  

Again students of History and Litterature at the Sorbonne, I am passionated by journalism and it is my dream to become a reporter. Since my infancy, my Brazilian origins have pushed me to the history of said country and also to the Native Americans. I’ve wanted to launch myself into the realization of this project during the months of July and August. I was impassioned by the books of Freyre of Holland and Levi Strauss and I then started to ask myself how will I use this information intelligently. When the history of BeloMonte came to my knowledge, I knew that it was important to relay this history. Thus the idea of producing a documentary that will unite history and current events appeared to me.

Some books : 

- Tristes tropiques, Claude Lévi-Strauss.
- Maîtres et escalves, Gilberto Freyre.
- Racines du Brésil, Ségio Buarque de Holanda.  
- Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil, Jean de Léry.  

Mon site internet : www.lessentiel-magazine.fr