Crowrã

For the Krahô people of northeastern Brazil, the boundary between the human and non-human is practically non-existent. Everyday life mainly unfolds outside, with both the river and the rainforest functioning as an extension of domestic space, plants are used for basketmaking, as medicine or as the subject of song (like the titular chant which gives its name to the film) and macaws and anteaters are treated as equals. But this specific relationship with the natural world is just as under threat as it always has been, as Indigenous rights are curtailed in far-off Brasília, poachers operate by night and historical traumas relived in dreams threaten to repeat themselves in the present. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Ensemble Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for its non-professional Krahô actors who also co-wrote the script, João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora’s exploration of the tensions of a unique environmental balance is at once intimate, expansive and deeply political, rich in color, mood and nuance. (jl)