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Amazon peoples’ resistance against megaprojects will be shown at Dutch film exhibition


Film portrays how Brazilian riverside and quilombola communities have organized themselves to ensure compliance to International Labor Organization Convention 169.

Picture by Bob Barbosa

While the Amazon burns and deforestation there increases, a series of megaprojects threatens to impact the lives of populations living near to Tapajós River. In order to resist this and demand the realization of their rights, people in the region have organized themselves to ensure they are free prior informed consent before any megaproject work begins. The experience of some of these groups has been recorded in the documentary entitled ‘Consultation Protocols on the River Tapajós: experiences of riverside and quilombola communities’, which will be screened on October 6th at the Screening Brazil film exhibition to be held from October 2nd to 6th in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The exhibition is taking place at Filmhuis Cavia, the Dutch capital’s oldest alternative cinema.

The 20-minute film portrays how riverside and quilombola communities have organized themselves to ensure that the provisions of International Labor Organization Convention 169 are complied with. This international treaty – ratified by Brazil in 2002 – establishes their to free prior informed consent in the event of measures or projects that will impact their territories or way of life.

Threatened with the possibility of port terminals being built close to their territories in the municipalities of Trairão and Santarém, in Pará state, the riverside and quilombola communities decided to organize themselves to prepare the Consultation Protocols. These are documents that indicate the way in which they should be consulted in order to guarantee that the consultation process provided for in ILO Convention 169 effectively happens.

The documentary has been produced by Terra de Direitos in partnership with the Land Pastoral Commission, Movement of People Affected by Dams, Federation of Santarém Quilombola Organizations and Misereor.

:: Watch:

About the film exhibition

The Screening Brazil film exhibition is organized by the Amsterdam Collective for Democracy in Brazil, in order to present contemporary Brazilian films to the international public, with special focus on reflection and debate about the current political situation in Brazil.

The program for the period October 2nd to 6th includes films such as ‘Recife Frio’, by director Kleber Mendonça Filho and ‘A mulher da luz própria’, by Sinai Sganzerla.

Tickets will be on sale 30 minutes prior to the film showing and cost € 5. Alternatively, a ticket valid for the entire exhibition costs € 20. The proceeds of the event will go to the #LulaLivre cause, in solidarity to former Brazilian President Lula, now a political prisoner, and to militants and activists detained and persecuted in Brazil.

This is the second edition of the Screening Brazil exhibition. The first edition took place on October 1st to 7th 2018, during the week prior to the second round of the Brazilian general elections.

:: Check out the full 2019 program here

Data, time and venue

 Documentary: ‘Consultation Protocols on the River Tapajós: experiences of riverside and quilombola communities’

Date: October 6th 2019

Screening Brazil 2nd edition

Venue: Filmhuis Cavia

Van Hallstraat 52-I, 1051 HH

Amsterdam – Netherlands