Watch the recording of the In Conversation between filmmaker Alex Pritz, the director of The Territory with SDI founder Noe Mendelle.
THE TERRITORY provides an immersive look at the tireless fight of the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by farmers and illegal settlers in the Brazilian Amazon. With awe-inspiring cinematography showcasing the titular landscape and richly textured sound design, the film takes audiences deep into the Uru-eu-wau-wau community and provides unprecedented access to the farmers and settlers illegally burning and clearing the protected Indigenous land.
Partially shot by the Uru-eu-wau-wau people, the film relies on 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.
The film is now available to watch on Disney+.
Alex Pritz is a documentary film director and cinematographer focused on human’s relationship with the natural world. Pritz’s directorial debut, “The Territory”, premiered in the World Cinema competition at Sundance 2022, winning both an Audience Award and Special Jury Award for Documentary Craft, making it the only film at that year’s festival to win awards from audience and jury alike. Pritz also worked as a cinematographer on the feature documentary “The First Wave” with director Matt Heineman, and as a cinematographer and field producer on Jon Kasbe’s feature documentary “When Lambs Become Lions” (Tribeca 2018). Prior to that, Pritz co-directed, shot and edited the documentary short “My Dear Kyrgyzstan” (Big Sky 2019). He is a co-founder of Documist and has received grants from the Sundance Institute, IDA Enterprise Fund, Catapult Fund and Doc Society.
“‘Save the rainforest’ has been a constant refrain among environmentalist groups for the past half-century, but no recent film captures the immediacy of the threat better than The Territory, Alex Pritz’s documentary feature debut“ – New York Times
Further resources / Viewing & reading materials:
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- Film’s website
- Alex Pritz on The Territory and Participatory Filmmaking – POV Magazine
- Jupaú Association
- Tribal Voice videos – Survival International
