The Territory provides an immersive on-the-ground look at the tireless fight of the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people of the Brazilian Amazon against the encroaching deforestation brought on by illegal settlers and an association of non-native farmers. Awe-inspiring cinematography and richly textured sound design take the audiences deep into the Uru-eu-wau-wau community, while also providing unprecedented access to the settlers illegitimately burning and clearing land along with a network of farmers fighting to legitimise their illegal land grab. Partially shot by the Uru-eu-wau-wau people, the film uses vérité footage captured over three years as the community risks their lives to set up their own news media team in the hopes of exposing the truth.
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Festival Appearances
Sundance Film Festival 2022 – Audience Award, Special Jury Award
CPH:DOX 2022 – F:ACT Award
Sheffield DocFest 2022
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Alex Pritz
Alex Pritz is a documentary film director and cinematographer focused on the human relationship with the natural world. He holds a Bachelor of Science from McGill University in Environmental Science and Philosophy. In 2012, he received an inaugural Dalai Lama Fellowship for his work developing film curricula alongside low-income communities in the Philippines, and taught participatory film workshops for lawyers and human rights advocates around the world. Pritz worked as a cinematographer on the feature documentary, The First Wave (2021), with director Matt Heineman, and as a cinematographer and field producer on Jon Kasbe’s feature documentary, When Lambs Become Lions (2018). Pritz co-directed, shot and edited the documentary short, My Dear Kyrgyzstan (2019). He is a co-founder of Documist and has received grants from the Sundance Institute, IDA Enterprise Fund, Catapult Fund and Doc Society. The Territory is his directorial debut.
Fri, 4 Nov | 8:35 pm | Picture Time 1
