What happens when western anthropologists descend on the Amazon and proceed to make one of the last ‘unacculturated tribes’ on the planet, the Yanomami Indians, the most exhaustively filmed and studied tribe on the planet? The film is an acute study of the clashing of these two tribes, the wars amongst them and uncovers horrendous secrets long buried. The 1960s. Seeking adventure, they thrust themselves into dark, mysterious places on the planet… They were young men, fresh out of college, seeking change and adventure. The anthropologists from France and America. They rejected their own cultures’ rites of passage, instead being drawn to exotic climes to make their own. They took a PhD or a film camera and a sense of academic mission with them. They sought out dangerous and unknown tribes to live with and study. They broke with their own cultures, in order to lose themselves or find themselves in others. How could ‘science’ go so wrong?
José Padilha
He wrote, produced and directed his first fiction feature, ELITE SQUAD in 2007. It won the Golden Bear 2008 at the Berlinale and was the most seen Brazilian film that year.
His documentary BUS 174 was honoured by the Director’s Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. The film won Best Documentary, Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival; Best Documentary, São Paulo International Film Festival; Best Documentary, Miami International Film Festival; Best International Premiere, One World Broadcasting Trust; a special Amnesty International Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival; FIPRESCI award for best Brazilian Film.
He is about to direct ELITE SQUAD II and is developing the screenplay of his next feature film, MARCHING POWDER. He has major feature films in development with Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers and Lions Gate.
