THE BURITI FLOWER (CROWRÃ) World Cinema

Shot over the course of 15 months in four different villages within the Krahôlandia Indigenous Land of Brazil, this spellbinding blend of ethnography and narrative filmmaking sees co-directors João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora (THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS) continue their work with the Indigenous Krahô community, who play themselves and collaborate on a script chronicling their fight to resist centuries of exploitation through dramatizations of three decisive events in their history, culminating in the present day political struggle in the wake of Jair Bolsonaro’s rule. These collective memories are foregrounded by the stories of three villagers — preteen Jotàt (Solane Tehtikwỳj Krahô), her mother Patpro (Ilda Patpro Krahô) and Patpro’s uncle Hỳjnõ (Francisco Hỳjnõ Krahô) — as they each come to terms with their changing Indigenous identities in contemporary Brazil and work to preserve their land and cultural traditions from the long-reaching legacy of colonialism. THE BURITI FLOWER is a remarkable and immersive ode to the strength and ongoing resistance of the Krahôs and Indigenous communities everywhere. –Abbie Algar