Uýra: The Rising Forest / Uýra: A Retomada da Floresta

Uýra, a trans-non-binary Indigenous artist, sweeps through the Amazon in full colour, transforming their world and igniting a cultural revolution.

Using performance art, Uýra leads the charge of a cultural revolution, sharing ancestral knowledge with Indigenous youth and inspiring a radical connection to culture, identity and land at a time when all are at risk from Brazil’s repressive political regime.

While on a journey of self-discovery, Uýra boldly confronts environmental destruction, structural racism and transphobia. Creating eye-popping costumes, often from the forest itself, they bring awareness to the interconnected relationship between all life and freedom of expression. With cinematography that demands to be seen on the big screen Uýra: The Rising Forest is a salve for your eyes and heart.

This film features a pre-recorded introduction from screenwriter and producer Martina Sönksen.

Awards

Special Programming Award for Freedom – 2022 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival
Best First Feature Documentary – Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature - Reeling 2022: The 40th Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature Award – 32. Oslo/Fusion Int. Film Festival
Best Indigenous Feature - BendFilm Festival 2022
Grand Jury Award - NewFest’s 34th annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival
The Mark Haslam Award – Planet in Focus 2022
Best Documentary Jury Award Winner – 2022 OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Special Jury Mention – Humans of Film Festival
MUIRAQUITÃ TROPHY for Best Performance (Jury Prize) and Best Feature (Popular Jury) – CineAlter
Jury Prize for Best Feature Film Legal Amazon – Amazonia Fi-Doc #8 – Festival Pan-Amazônico de Cinema

About the Director

Juliana Curi is a Brazilian-Latinx film director and visual artist. Deeply influenced by the social cinema school, she graduated in Journalism, and began her career in the creative department of MTV Brazil, developing social awareness campaigns about HIV, Politics, and Climate Justice focused on Brazilian youth.

Since then, Juliana was the UN Women’s Award winner with the P&G Campaign as the best campaign in Latin America that defies gender stereotypes, 2021 Bric Brooklyn Film+TV Resident, part of the board of supporters and director of the launching campaign of More Grls, the first roadmap to female talent in Brazil which aims to fight gender inequality and she signed the exhibitions Pink Intervention Exhibition (Spotte Art NY, Artsy) and The Battle of the Body at Centro Cultural São Paulo (São Paulo Cultural Center).

She currently lives in the United States, is co-founder of the filmmaking social program EUETU Lab and signs the script, direction, and production of the feature film UÝRA – The Rising Forest, grated by Doc Society – Climate Story Unit and Bric Brooklyn Residency. The film had its first theatrical trailer exhibited during COP 26 and was released in 2022.