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Ex Pajé

Ex Shaman
Panorama Dokumente 2018
© Pedro J. Marquez
Ever since their first contact with the Western world in 1969 the Paiter Suruí, an indigenous people living in the Amazon basin, have been exposed to sweeping social changes. Smartphones, gas, electricity, medicines, weapons and social media have now replaced their traditional way of life. Illness is a risk for a community increasingly unable to isolate itself from the modernisations brought by white people or the power of the church. Ethnocide threatens to destroy their soul. With dogged persistence, Perpera, a Christianised former shaman, is searching for a way to restore the old vitality to his village.
Luiz Bolognesi’s film sensitively documents how western technology and church-based prayer are subsuming the lives of a people whose world was previously shaped by hunting, harvest and community meals. Unfolding in densely atmospheric images, this film reveals their deep connection to the unpredictable rain forest, from which Perpera draws the strength he needs to resist the encroaching eradication of their cultural identity. His unwavering trust in the supernatural allows him to wander between quiet submission and targeted protection of the existential values that characterise the Paiter Suruí.
by Luiz Bolognesi
with Perpera Suruí, Kabena Cinta Larga, Agamenon Suruí, Kennedy Suruí, Ubiratan Suruí, Mopidmore Suruí, Arildo Gapamé Suruí Brazil 2018 Tupi, Portuguese 81’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • Perpera Suruí
  • Kabena Cinta Larga
  • Agamenon Suruí
  • Kennedy Suruí
  • Ubiratan Suruí
  • Mopidmore Suruí
  • Arildo Gapamé Suruí

Crew

Written and Directed by Luiz Bolognesi
Cinematography Pedro J. Márquez
Editing Ricardo Farias
Sound Rodrigo Macedo
Sound Design Armando Torres Jr. ABC, Caio Guerrin, Manon Ribat
Assistant Director Carolina Fernandes
Production Manager Flávia Tonalezi
Producers Fabiano Gullane, Caio Gullane, Luiz Bolognesi, Laís Bodanzky

World sales

Upside Distribution

Produced by

Gullane

http://www.gullane.com http://www.gullane.com

Buriti Filmes

http://www.buritifilmes.com.br/ http://www.buritifilmes.com.br/

Photos

Luiz Bolognesi

© Lais Bodanzky

Born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1966, he studied social anthropology and, in the 1990s, lived and worked as a teacher in the Pataxó Indigenous community in Bahia. His directing debut, the animated film A Story of Love and Fury, won the Cristal du long métrage at the 2013 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and a Cinema Brazil Grand Prize. His second film, Ex Shaman, screened in the 2018 Panorama. He has made several documentary series and has also won a number of screenwriting awards. His writing work includes the Emmy-nominated series Elis and the screenplay for Just Like Our Parents which screened in the 2017 Panorama.

Filmography

2013 Uma História de Amor e Fúria (A Story of Love and Fury); animation 2018 Ex Pajé (Ex Shaman); documentary · Guerras do Brasil.doc; series 2021 A Última Floresta (The Last Forest); documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021