Descarte

After living in the United States for decades, Brazilian geographer Camila decides to return to her native state of Minas Gerais when a mining-related environmental disaster strikes the area. A dam burst, destroying several villages with heavily polluted wastewater from an iron ore mine. In this documentary road movie, Camila shows how mining has shaped the state’s history.

Aiming to address how the environment has been mistreated since the beginning of the 20th century, the production brings back historical characters and compiles testimonies from representatives of diverse groups related to the theme.

The Kaiowa and Guarani Nation, oblivious to Law and Justice, reveals the testimonial narrative of the indigenous genocide underway in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Sidarta Ribeiro, a Brazilian neuroscientist, explores how dreams and other forms of access to the unconscious can transform human experience. In his research, he proposes combining the ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples and people of African origin in Brazil with scientific knowledge, as well as a scientific reevaluation of experiences with hallucinogens.

Through clippings, the film draws a narrative line between the construction of racism in Brazil and the United States, having as base the European invasion of the continent, police violence, the genocide of the black people, the massacre of indigenous peoples, religious violence, the criminalization of funk music, structural racism in art and education, the importance of quota policy and the need urgent historical repair as a commitment by the Brazilian state to the black people.

Davi Kopenawa, a Yanomami shaman and one of Brazil’s leading Indigenous voices, confronts the threat of large mining companies encroaching on his Amazon territory. We follow him on a journey to Brumadinho, where he encounters the aftermath of the Brumadinho dam disaster. Between the earthly and the spiritual realms, his path intersects with the maxita watimapë—the “earth eaters” — and leads him to reunite with his longtime ally Ailton Krenak.