"The Territory", broadcast from Friday in the United States by National Geographic, tells the plight of these some 200 hunter-gatherers who live in a reserve in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by aggressive settlers, peasants and loggers who encroach on their territory illegally.

Although they appear in the film in traditional dress, the Uru-eu-wau-wau and their young chief Bitate - at the heart of the documentary - do not hesitate to seize modern technologies to retaliate.

"When the Covid arrived, Bitate took the courageous decision to say: + Ok, there will be no more journalists on our territory, no more directors, no more Alex, no more documentary crew, no more people +", says Alex Pritz.

"We had to have a conversation with him: 'Did we finish the movie? Do we have everything we need?...Are we starting to go up?+", he continues.

"Bitate was very clear, + No, we haven't finished. We still have a lot of work to do. You hadn't finished before, why would you have finished now? +", recalls the director.

And the tribal leader added: "Just send us better cameras, send us audio equipment and we will shoot and produce the end of the film".

Result: a "co-production model" where an Uru-eu-wau-wau filmmaker is credited as director of photography and where the tribe has a greater participation in the production, with a share of the profits and a say in commercial decisions in terms of distribution.

The decision to provide the Uru-eu-wau-wau with equipment and training has provided a "direct perspective" on the tribe's activities, including patrols to stop intruders.

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“I had shot a few surveillance missions myself, none of which ended up in the final cut!”, smiles Mr. Pritz.

“Not because we wanted to change direction, but because it was more visceral, more immediate”.

"Digital Children"

Even before the arrival of Alex Pritz's team, the Uru-eu-wau-wau had embraced modern technology and media management to champion their cause, positioning themselves on the international stage as guardians of a forest whose survival is linked to issues of global warming and biodiversity.

"Bitate and this new generation of Uru-eu-wau-wau are digital children. He was born in the late 1990s. He's on Instagram. And that's partly how he addresses in the world," says Alex Pritz.

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Many viewers assume the dramatic and heartbreaking footage of deforestation that appears at the start of the film was shot by the documentary crew, but that's not the case, says Pritz.

However, the drones were bought and operated by the Uru-eu-wau-wau.

“Where it would have taken four days to walk across a mountain range through thick, ancient jungle, with the drone you are there in 30 minutes,” says the director.

Surprising as it may seem, the documentary also shows the point of view of peasants and settlers, who illegally cut down and burn protected areas of the forest in order to clear roads to territories they hope to claim one day.

Convincing them to let themselves be filmed was possible because many of them see themselves as heroic pioneers, trusting Alex Pritz to do what they do for the good of their nation -- a mix of cowboy culture and of nationalist propaganda stirred up by far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

"The settlers were these naive people who had no understanding of the historical context of their actions, the ecological consequences, what they were doing to the rest of the planet," said the director.

For them, who often lack education or other economic opportunities, "it was simply + me and what belongs to me +, + just this little plot of land +, + if only I could have this +...".

“While Bitate has a broad vision. He thinks of climate change, he thinks of the planet, he is politically astute, comfortable with the media”, underlines Alex Pritz.

© 2022 AFP