The Territory (2022 film)

The Territory is a 2022 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Alex Pritz. It follows a young Indigenous leader of the Uru-eu-wau-wau people fighting back against farmers, colonizers and settlers who encroach on a protected area of the Amazon Rainforest. Filmed on location in Brazil from 2018 to 2020, the film utilizes almost exclusively on-the-ground, primary source material, including footage produced directly by the Uru-eu-wau-wau. Darren Aronofsky serves as a producer under his Protozoa Pictures banner.

The Territory
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alex Pritz
Produced by	Alex Pritz Darren Aronofsky Sigrid Dyekjaer Will N. Miller Gabriel Uchida Lizzie Gillett
Cinematography	Alex Pritz Tangai Uru-eu-wau-wau
Edited by	Carlos Rojas Felice
Music by	Katya Mihailova
Production companies	Protozoa Pictures Passion Pictures Real Lava TIME Studios XTR Doc Society Climate Story Fund Documist Associação Jupaú
Distributed by	National Geographic Documentary Films Picturehouse
Release dates	January 22, 2022 (2022-01-22) (Sundance) August 19, 2022 (2022-08-19) (United States)
Running time	86 minutes[1]
Countries	United States United Kingdom Brazil Denmark
Languages	Portuguese Tupi-Kawahiva
Box office	$70,093[2][3]

The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2022. It was released in select cities in the United States and Canada on August 19, 2022, by National Geographic Documentary Films and Picturehouse. It was shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards in the Best Documentary Feature category,^[4] and won Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking at the 75th Emmy Awards. The film received critical acclaim for its cinematography and for the authentic portrayal of rising tensions between Indigenous peoples and settlers in contemporary Brazil.

Synopsis

The film focuses on the Uru-eu-wau-wau, an Amazonian tribe only contacted by the Brazilian government in 1980. Originally numbering in the thousands, the tribe is presented as just 200 strong at the film's outset. Bitaté Uru-eu-wau-wau is introduced as an 18-year-old who, despite his youth, is selected as leader of Uru-eu-wau-wau in order to coordinate their protection in the face of encroaching settlers who deploy slash-and-burn tactics to establish frontier settlements. Neidinha Bandeira, an environmental and human rights activist, is the other central cast member, working tirelessly to protect Uru-eu-wau-wau land and present their story to journalists and politicians. White seizure of Indigenous land is presented as a quasi-legal movement, tacitly encouraged after the election of reactionary populist Jair Bolsonaro.

The film interweaves vérité footage of settlers themselves who, though chauvinistic, also have genuine faith in their entitlement to Amazonian land. The threat of violence hangs over the film's action. Bandeira faces near-constant death threats and the tribe deals frankly with the threat of elimination. The murder of Ari Uru-eu-wau-wau, a 33-year-old tribal leader beloved by the Uru-eu-wau-wau, is presented around the film's mid-point; the primary coordinator of tribal patrols, Ari is found murdered on a roadside with his death unsolved at the film's conclusion. The Uru-eu-wau-wau are also hit hard by COVID-19, losing 5% of their already tiny numbers.

The film's last act presents Bitaté taking up Ari's patrol leadership, teaching drone and film technology to tribe members in order to document settler intrusion and monitor territory boundaries. The tribe implements a de facto police apparatus, arresting individual settlers and destroying their out-buildings and implements. Bandeira continues her steadfast advocacy and organizing despite being deeply shaken by Ari's murder. The tribe's position is presented as resolute but extremely precarious at the film's end, with a concluding crawl noting that the Amazon clearance, the invasion of indigenous land and the appropriation of resources continues to accelerate under the Bolsonaro administration.

Release and reception

The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2022.^[5][1] Shortly after, National Geographic Documentary Films acquired distribution rights to the film.^[6] It was released in the United States on August 19, 2022.^[7] The Territory received positive reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 97% approval rating based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Visually striking, formally refreshing, and ultimately enraging, The Territory is a powerful advocacy documentary with the heart of a thriller."^[8] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 83 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[9]

Critics acknowledge that The Territory is an advocacy film rather than a strictly disinterested documentary. The New York Times notes in its review that Indigenous people and settlers "are given near-equal amounts of screen time" but that "Pritz does not draw a false equivalency between the two; in fact, the longer time is spent with the farmers, the more alarming their gap of understanding toward the Uru Eu Wau Wau becomes."^[10] The sense of intimacy created by immediate, personal portraits of conflicting perspectives is praised across reviews, heightened by striking visuals and sound design.^[11] The LA Times calls the film a "a gripping portrait of an endangered community."^[12] A more critical review at RogerEbert.com acknowledges the cinematography but suggests that the hero-villain narrative risks simplicity and becomes monotous.^[13]

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Cinema Eye Honors	January 12, 2023	Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature	Alex Pritz, Darren Aronofsky, Gabriel Uchida, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett, and Will N. Miller	Nominated	[14] [15]
		Outstanding Production	Alex Pritz, Darren Aronofsky, Gabriel Uchida, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett, and Will N. Miller	Nominated
		Outstanding Cinematography	Alex Pritz and Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau	Nominated
		Outstanding Original Score	Katya Mihailova	Nominated
		Outstanding Sound Design	Rune Klausen and Peter Albrechtsen	Nominated
		Outstanding Debut	Alex Pritz	Won
		Audience Choice Prize	The Territory	Nominated
		The Unforgettables	Bitaté Uru-eu-wau-wau and Neidinha Bandeira	Won
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival	March 23 – April 3, 2022	F:act Award – Special Mention	The Territory	Won	[16]
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards	November 13, 2022	Best First Documentary Feature	Alex Pritz	Nominated	[17] [18]
		Best Science/Nature Documentary	The Territory	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Alex Pritz and Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wau	Nominated
Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards	December 15, 2022	Best Documentary	The Territory	9th place	[19] [20]
Golden Reel Awards	February 26, 2023	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Documentary	Rune Klausen, Peter Albrechtsen, Mikkel Nielsen, Tim Nielsen, Sebastian Vaskio, Guilherme Tortolo Magrin, Pietu Korhonen, and Heikki Kossi	Nominated	[21]
Golden Trailer Awards	June 29, 2023	Best Documentary TV Spot (for a Feature Film)	The Territory (ZEALOT)	Nominated	[22]
		Best Original Score TV Spot (for a Feature Film)		Nominated
Gotham Awards	November 28, 2022	Best Documentary	The Territory	Nominated	[23]
International Wildlife Film Festival	April 23–30, 2022	Best of Festival Award		Won	[24] [25]
		Best Sustainable Planet Category		Won
Mountainfilm	May 30, 2022	Moving Mountains Award		Won	[26]
Peabody Awards	June 11, 2023	Documentary		Won	[27]
Primetime Emmy Awards	January 7–8, 2024	Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking	Alex Pritz, Darren Aronofsky, Sigrid Dyekjær, Will N. Miller, Gabriel Uchida, Lizzie Gillett, and Txai Suruí	Won	[28]
		Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program	Alex Pritz	Nominated
		Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program	Alex Pritz and Tangãi Uru-eu-wau-wa	Nominated
Producers Guild of America Awards	February 25, 2023	Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures	Sigrid Dyekjaer, Will Miller, Lizzie Gillett, Darren Aronofsky, Gabriel Uchida, and Alex Pritz	Nominated	[29] [30]
Provincetown International Film Festival	June 15–19, 2022	John Schlesinger Documentary Award	Alex Pritz	Won	[31] [32]
Satellite Awards	March 3, 2023	Best Motion Picture – Documentary	The Territory	Nominated	[33] [34] [35]
Seattle International Film Festival	April 24, 2022	Golden Space Needle Award – Best Documentary		Won	[36]
Sheffield DocFest	June 23–28, 2022	Tim Hetherington Award – Special Mention		Won	[37]
Sundance Film Festival	January 20–30, 2022	World Cinema Documentary – Audience Award		Won	[38] [39]
		World Cinema Documentary – Special Jury Award for Documentary Craft		Won
Zurich Film Festival	October 1, 2022	Science Film Award		Won	[40]

References

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2. "The Territory". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 21, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
3. "The Territory (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
4. Sciences, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and. "95th Oscars Shortlists Announced for 10 Categories". A.frame. Archived from the original on 2022-12-22. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
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9. "The Territory Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 4, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
10. Shaffer, Claire (August 18, 2022). "The Territory Review: Saving the Amazon, One Camera at a Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
11. Linden, Sheri (January 28, 2022). "The Territory: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
12. Abele, Robert (August 18, 2022). "Review: Indigenous people turn to technology to save their Amazon home in The Territory". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
13. Allen, Nick (August 19, 2022). "The Territory". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
14. MacCary, Julia; Shafer, Ellise (January 12, 2023). "All That Breathes, Fire of Love Lead Cinema Eye Honors". Variety. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
15. Jones, Marcus (November 10, 2022). "Fire of Love and The Territory Lead 2023 Cinema Eye Honors Nonfiction Film Nominees". IndieWire. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
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24. "2022 Winners". International Wildlife Film Festival. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
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26. "Mountainfilm awards". Telluride Daily Planet. June 7, 2022. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
27. Coates, Tyler (May 9, 2023). "Peabody Awards: Abbott Elementary, Andor, Severance and We're Here Among Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
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29. "Producers Guild of America Awards Celebrates Everything Everywhere All At Once, White Lotus, The Bear, Navalny & more with Top Honors" (Press release). Los Angeles: Producers Guild of America. February 25, 2023. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
30. Carey, Matthew (December 12, 2022). "PGA Awards Documentary Nominations Bring Shocks and Surprises: Nothing Compares In, All The Beauty And The Bloodshed Out". Deadline. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
31. "Provincetown International Film Festival Announces 2022 Winners – PIFF Receives Oscar-Qualifying Status". Provincetown Film. June 19, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
32. Sippell, Margeaux (June 20, 2022). "Provincetown International Film Festival Announces 2022 Award Winners". MovieMaker Magazine. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
33. "2022 Nominees". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
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35. "The International Press Academy Announces Winners for the 27th Annual Satellite Awards". International Press Academy. March 3, 2023. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
36. Murphy, J. Kim (April 24, 2022). "Seattle International Film Festival Awards Top Honors to Klondike, Know Your Place". Variety. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
37. Ramachandran, J. Naman (June 29, 2022). "Sansón and Me, Master of Light Win Sheffield Doc/Fest". Variety. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
38. Debruge, Peter (January 28, 2022). "Sundance 2022 Winners: From Nanny and Navalny to Crowd-Pleaser Cha Cha Real Smooth, Indie Fest Spreads the Wealth". Variety. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
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External links

• The Territory at IMDb