Explore the Artistry and Guardianship of Indigenous Visual Artist Uýra in UÝRA: THE RISING FOREST Documentary

Multi Emmy Award-winning series, POV, illuminates Indigenous contemporary visual artist Uýra in director Juliana Curi's feature documentary debut, Uýra: The Rising Forest. The lyrical and eye-popping film follows Uýra as they travel through the Amazon forest on a journey of self-discovery using performance art and ancestral messages to teach Indigenous youth the significance of identity and place, and how to confront structural racism and transphobia in Brazil. The inspiring film is produced by João Henrique Kurtz, Curi, Lívia Cheibub and Martina Sönksen, and co-produced by Uýra Sodoma.

Uýra: The Rising Forest, a co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and Peril and Promise, a public media initiative from The WNET Group, makes its national broadcast premiere on Monday, September 25, 2023 at 10pmET/9C (check local listings) and will be available to stream until December 24, 2023 via pbs.org, and the PBS App.

Now in its historic 36th season, POV continues to share bold, visionary stories as America's longest running non-fiction series on television. In 1980, the town of Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazonas had a river running through its center, providing the community with an abundance of fresh water. However, officials began to encourage the dumping of garbage into the river which impacted the health of the community. Now, decades later the artist Uýra conducts a performance piece dressed as a river creature dying in the middle of the debris to the crowds above them.

Director Curi follows Uýra's journey as it takes them into the lush forests of the Amazon and beyond, gathering a group of LGBT members together through cultural centers and riverside communities. They share ancestral knowledge with Indigenous youth in the Amazon to promote the significance of identity and place, threatened by Brazil's far right oppressive political regime led by president Jair Bolsonaro and five centuries of severe colonial indigenous policies.

Through dance, poetry, and stunning characterization, Uýra confronts historical racism, transphobia, and environmental destruction, while emphasizing the interdependence of humans and the environment. Visually stunning-with impeccable cinematography by Thiago Moraes 'Quadrado'-Uýra: The Rising Forest, written by Juliana Curi and Martina Sönksen, blurs the lines between documentary and fiction, showing that it's possible to address Brazil's structural violence while honoring the poetic aesthetic and enchantment of the Amazonian territory.

Uýra: The Rising Forest, made its world premiere at Frameline46: The San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival in 2022, where it won the Audience Award For Best Documentary. It won Best Documentary at the New Filmmakers LA Film Festival, the Grand Jury Award at NewFest's 34th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the Special Programming Award for Freedom at the 2022 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, the Jury Prize at London Film Week, Best Feature Documentary at the 2023 One World Media Awards in the United Kingdom, and was named the Best Indigenous Feature at the 2022 BendFilm Festival.

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