"Amazônia viva" presents the magnitude of the Amazon rainforest and will be exhibited at the CVR festival in Brasilia.
Uniting and integrating ordinary people from all over the world with indigenous peoples, local communities, environmentalists, public managers and scientists for the restoration and conservation of the world's largest rainforest may seem like an improbable dream, but it is one of the innovative strategies proposed in "Amazônia Viva", Estevão Ciavatta's new film. Commissioned by the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative (IRI Brazil) - a collaborative action platform created by the UN so that religious leaders and communities can contribute to preserving forests, biodiversity and promoting the rights of their guardians - the film marks the filmmaker's directorial debut, using virtual reality technologies to unveil the most important biome on the planet and raise awareness about the importance of the region and its preservation.
With 10 minutes and a worldwide launch at the latest edition of Rio Innovation Week, an innovation event in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which took place between November 8 and 11, "Amazônia Viva" is an immersive experience of the Tapajós River region, which uses 360º filming to unveil one of the most important places on the planet and thus bring it ever closer to people. "If movies and TV already have the power to take us to another reality, virtual technology really brings us face to face with the exuberance and grandeur of the forest. It's a unique, very transformative experience and I hope that this work will help people to understand the richness, the scale and how necessary it is to protect that environment," Ciavatta said.
The cacica Raquel Tupinambá - from the community of Surucuá, where she is also an important indigenous leader - does the honors of the house and guides the viewer through the fully interactive virtual journey through one of the most important, beautiful and, unfortunately, threatened biomes. During the journey, the audience will have the sensation of physically being in the region; they will feel all the energy of seeing the beauty and also hearing the sounds of the forest - the sunrise, the birds singing, the leaves swaying, the river moving - and they will really enjoy all the sensations that a 3D experience can provide. This way, they will get involved, get closer and become aware of how to preserve and also propose and support solutions to help curb the climate crisis and the devastation of the Amazon. "By experiencing the region, everyone will become aware that they belong there, that the forest must be kept alive and that it integrates with the people and culture. Only with proximity will there be an understanding that it's not worth destroying everything and that conservation can't just be for the forests, but also for the people, especially the indigenous peoples. And I, as an activist, agreed to take part in this project to be part of the cause that preserves this place and also looks after the population that is being impacted by the consequences of the actions of those who do not wish to conserve the living forest," concludes Raquel.
Specializing in the creation, production and distribution of 360o and 3D videos, Studio KwO XR brought all the virtual language and technological quality compatible with Ciavatta's vision and script to the film, with the setting of the Tapajós National Forest as the protagonist. And cutting-edge technology was the strategy adopted to impact the viewer - physically distant - on the immensity of the place. "We had the role of expanding the director's vision and adapting it to the language of virtual reality. We really pushed this vision to the limit to make something very complex and special so that the public could get to know content that they wouldn't normally have access to in big cities; from contact with an indigenous woman to even the feeling of belonging to that nature, with that vegetation, those animals - seeing everything from the top of a giant Samaúma, in first person and from angles that you're not used to seeing, for example," says the artist and one of the studio's partners, Nelson Porto.
Com roteiro também de Estevão Ciavatta, produção da Pindorama Filmes e financiamento do Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), “Amazônia Viva” será uma das principais ferramentas que a IRI Brasil utilizará em seus programas de sensibilização, formação e engajamento de lideranças e comunidades religiosas. “Precisamos criar oportunidades para que as pessoas conheçam um pouco da floresta amazônica e possam se maravilhar com sua beleza, compreender melhor sua complexidade, ameaças e a gigantesca importância ambiental, social, cultural e econômica que ela tem para o Brasil e para o planeta. Entendemos que a valorização da Amazônia é passo fundamental para que as pessoas exerçam maior influência sobre a atuação dos governantes, legisladores e empresários, com a finalidade de parar o absurdo processo de destruição que vem ocorrendo e para que se ponha fim ao ambiente de violência na região e à violação dos direitos dos povos indígenas, quilombolas e comunidades locais. Visitar a Amazônia é uma possibilidade que está fora do alcance da maioria da população brasileira, mas o uso inteligente da tecnologia e da arte pode proporcionar a muitas pessoas uma transformadora experiência de contato com a floresta, sua biodiversidade e seus povos originários”, explica o Facilitador Nacional da Iniciativa Inter-religiosa Pelas Florestas Tropicais no Brasil, Carlos Vicente.
