The Falling Sky

A visually stunning documentary that follows the Yanomami people of the Amazon as they perform a sacred rite and defend their homeland from the incursion of mining.

Narrated by Yanomami shaman and leader Davi Kopenawa, this breathtaking documentary traces his Indigenous Amazonian community’s preparations for a time-worn funeral rite said to hold up the sky – a ceremony that also galvanises them in the battle to defend their homeland from illegal gold mining. The Yanomami had lived in relative isolation until the 1970s, when a highway built under Brazil’s dictatorship exposed them to the ravages of those they call the “merchandise people”: outsiders exploiting nature for financial gain.

With a sensitivity to their own status as interlopers and taking inspiration from Kopenawa’s 2010 book of the same name, directors Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha let the Yanomami tell the story in their own words, highlighting the resilience of this ancient community and showcasing the natural wonder of the world they are fighting to protect. Screening direct from Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, The Falling Sky is a film that is not just pressingly topical but brimming with tremendous beauty, power and humanity.

“Entrancing at times and eventually hard-hitting … One of the most necessary and scorching pieces of nonfiction storytelling in recent memory.” – Variety