“The forest is alive. It will only die if the whites persist in destroying it. (...) Then we will die, one after another, both whites and us. All the shamans will eventually die. When there are no more of them alive to uphold the sky, it will collapse.”- Davi Kopenawa
In collaboration with Brazil’s indigenous Yanomami people, The Falling Sky follows the Yanomami leader and shaman Davi Kopenawa as he fights to return the world to balance in closely observed rituals and trenchant comments on the ruthless logic of a materialistic outside culture. Illegal logging, gold mining, and the deadly mix of epidemics these intrusions spread threaten the existence of the Yanomami.
Based on an acute understanding of geopolitical forces, Davi Kopenawa holds up a mirror to capitalist societies of “the merchandise people” and the unsustainable lifestyle of the so-called “developed countries” that threatens the survival of humanity as a whole.
The film is a presentation of the cosmology of the Yanomami people, the work of the shamans to hold up the sky and heal the world from the diseases produced by non-indigenous people, illegal mining, the siege promoted by the ‘people of merchandise’ and the revenge of the Earth.
The screening will be preceded by an introduction by the Cine Brazil.
Survival International also have copies of the book that inspired the film on sale in the Atrium Bar from 19:00.
