BirdWatchers - La terra degli uomini rossi (2008)

Director:

Marco Bechis

Writers:

Marco Bechis (writer) &
Luiz Bolognesi (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

28 November 2008 (Brazil)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

When a tribe of indigenous Guarani Indians attempts to re-inhabit their ancestral land, which lies on the border of a wealthy landowner's fields, tensions escalate.

Plot Keywords:

Indians | Reservation | Brazil | Culture Clash | Suicide

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Claudio Santamaria	...	Roberto
Alicélia Batista Cabreira	...	Lia
Chiara Caselli	...	Beatrice
Pedro Abrísio da Silva	...	Osvaldo
Matheus Nachtergaele	...	Dimas
Ambrósio Vilhava	...	Nádio
Ademilson Concianza Verga	...	Irineu
Leonardo Medeiros	...	Moreira - the farmer
Eliane Juca da Silva	...	Mami
Fabiane Pereira da Silva	...	Maria
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Taiane Arce	...	Kinha
César Chedid	...	Farmer
Temily Comar	...	Maria's friend
Nelson Concianza	...	Nhanderu
Luciane da Silva	...	Rosália
Camila Caetano Ferreira	...	Elma
Inéia Arce Gonçalves	...	Maid
Urbano Palácio	...	Josimar
Poli Fernandez Souza	...	Tito
Luiz Mário Vicente	...	Attorney general

Directed by
Marco Bechis

Writing credits
Marco Bechis		(writer) &
Luiz Bolognesi		(writer)
Lara Fremder		(collaborator)

Produced by
Marco Bechis	....	executive producer
Marco Bechis	....	producer
Caio Gullane	....	executive producer
Caio Gullane	....	producer
Fabiano Gullane	....	producer
Sônia Império Hamburger	....	co-executive producer
Débora Ivanov	....	co-producer: Brazil
Gabriel Lacerda	....	co-producer: Brazil
Daniele Mazzocca	....	executive producer: Italy
Amedeo Pagani	....	producer

Original Music by
Andrea Guerra

Cinematography by
Hélcio Alemão Nagamine

Film Editing by
Jacopo Quadri

Art Direction by
Clovis Bueno
Caterina Giargia

Costume Design by
Valeria Stefani

Makeup Department
Uirandê Holanda	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Waltinho Magalhães Filho	....	production manager
André Montenegro	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ivan S. Cruz	....	second assistant director
Duccio Fabbri	....	first assistant director: prep
Maria Farkas	....	first assistant director
Tiago Vaz	....	third assistant director

Art Department
João Bueno	....	scenography

Sound Department
Roberto Cappannelli	....	sound re-recording mixer
Antongiulio Frulio	....	midi programming
Facundo Paco Girón	....	boom operator
Jorge Miranda	....	sound editor
Lisandro Rumeau	....	assistant foley artist
Gaspar Scheuer	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Bacco Andrade	....	video assist
Eduardo 'Kito' de Andréa	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Thiago De Vincentiis	....	assistant camera
Maurício Franco	....	second assistant camera
Marie Hippenmeyer	....	still photographer
Thiago Pereira	....	grip

Casting Department
Carla Ascarza	....	casting research
Mandy Biagi	....	casting assistant
Patricia Faria	....	casting research
Diana Galantini	....	casting research assistant
Lia Raulino Hillel	....	casting producer
Maysa Lepique	....	casting research
Urbano Palácio	....	casting: india
Goga Penha	....	casting assistant

Editorial Department
Elisa Flora Algeri Bricoli	....	second assistant editor
André Finotti	....	editing collaborator
Chiara Griziotti	....	first assistant editor
Daniel T. Müller	....	post-production assistant
Patrícia Nelly	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Patrícia Portaro	....	music consultant and clearances

Other crew
Patricia Alencastro	....	continuity
Tomaz Aquino	....	production accountant: Brazil
Luísa Berlitz	....	first executive production assistant
Chiara Boschiero	....	executive production assistant: Italy
Brenda da Mata	....	set manager
Dalva Rufino de Medeiros	....	production assistant
Edgar do Nascimento	....	catering manager
Ariene Leite	....	executive coordinator
Sandra Leite	....	production office
Manuela Mandler	....	international coordinator: Brazil
Kelly Mansilha	....	production secretary
Ana Paula Mello	....	first accounting assistant: Brazil
Mauro Monachini	....	financial consultant
Grazia Netti	....	production accountant: Italy
William Parlapiano	....	production assistant: Italy
Renata Pimentel	....	production assistant
Irene Ranzato	....	production assistant: Italy
Pedro Ribeiro	....	controller: Brazil
Nereu Schneider	....	indigenous consultant
Donizetti Soleitão	....	plateau
Ricardo Tru	....	scene vehicles producer

Thanks
Enrique Ahriman	....	in memory of
Duccio Fabbri	....	special thanks
Antonella Licata	....	special thanks
Gigi Riva	....	special thanks
Emiliano Torres	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Classic
• Rai Cinema (in collaboration with)
• Karta Film (in collaboration with)
• Gullane Filmes (in collaboration with)
• Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC) (support)

Distributors

• Filmtrade (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2011) (Canada) (theatrical)
• 01 Rai Cinema (2009) (Italy) (all media)
• Atalanta Filmes (2009) (Portugal) (all media)
• Cinemien (2009) (Belgium) (all media)
• Cinemien (2009) (Luxembourg) (all media)
• Cinemien (2009) (Netherlands) (all media)
• Homescreen (2009) (Belgium) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• IFC Films (2010) (USA) (all media)
• Océan Films (2008) (France) (all media)
• Paris Filmes (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2009) (Switzerland) (all media)

Other Companies

• Yazbek e Portaro Advogados  music consulting and clearance services

Also Known As:

"Birdwatchers" - International (English title), UK, USA
"Terra Vermelha" - Brazil
"BirdWatchers - A Terra dos Homens Vermelhos" - Portugal
"BirdWatchers - La tierra de los hombres rojos" - Argentina (festival title)
"BirdWatchers - Zeme rudých lidí" - Czech Republic
"Birdwatchers" - Sweden
"Birdwatchers - Das Land der roten Menschen" - Germany
"Fuglekikkere" - Norway
"I gi ton kokkinon anthropon" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"La terre des hommes rouges" - France

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

Italy | Brazil

Language:

Portuguese | Guarani | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Company:

Classic

Quotes:

[last lines]
Osvaldo:I won, you lost!

Soundtrack:

Sacris solemnis

Powerful, shaming film

Set amongst the Guarani-Kaiowa community in their native Brazil, Birdwatchers depicts the breakdown between the white settlers and the ever-decreasing tribe. Tired of living in a designated settlement, stoic community leader Nadio (Ambrosio Vilhava) decides to take back the land that their ancestors are buried on. Only the land has been taken over by white farmers who are making a wealthy living from the land. Tensions increase further when the young Osvaldo (Pedro Abrisio Da Silva), who is learning to cut out indulging in things like red meat and women to become a shamen, begins a friendship with the farmers daughter.

Over the past number of years, hundreds of the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe have committed suicide. Their religion is based around a God they call Nande Ru, and they worship the land they live on and so respect. Like many indigenous tribes, they have seen their land raped and poached, and have been driven off to seek underpaid labour. The film depicts the suicides early on, as Nadio finds two women hanging from nearby trees. He is not shocked, as he has seen this happened many times before. The film gets its real power from the fact that this is reality, and shocked me at my ignorance and the failure of any real coverage of this decreasing community.

The film is also funny, beautiful and moving. Most hilarious is the scene in which Mami (Eliane Juca Da Silva) seduces one of the farmers in order to get hold of his gun. He is seen as a bit of an idiot throughout the film, and Mami and the other tribeswomen mockingly dub him as 'long d**k'. As he has sex with Mami, she is laughing shouting 'long d**k!' at him. It's a strangely funny scene. The actors are probably so effective due to the fact that these are actual members of the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe, and had to be introduced to the concept of cinema before receiving their brief acting lessons. I suspect they didn't need acting lessons, and their emotions and history are written all over their faces.

The film wisely doesn't show everything so simply and one-sided. It is a complex issue that deserves a complex depiction. The farmer Moreira (Leonardo Medeiros), dismayed at the tribe settling on the land where he grows his crops, explains how this is the farm he inherited from generations before him. The land belongs to him as much as it does to the tribe. This is the only land he knows, and what a beautiful land it is. The Brazilian landscape is filmed with a natural beauty, which allows us to understand why the Guarani-Kaiowa worship the land so. A powerful film, and when director Marco Bechis flashes up the charity dedicated to preserving the tribe at the end of the film, it will fill you with guilt that you can live in a world that would fail to recognise their struggle and plight.

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