Discovering Amazonian cinema: the free film festival at the Musée du Quai Branly

As an extension ofthe Amazônia exhibition, the Musée du Quai Branly invites you to a film festival celebrating the diversity of the region's cultures and communities, from November 13 to 16, 2025. Free of charge upon reservation, the festival presents films made in close collaboration with local communities, whether by indigenous filmmakers or outside directors.

These films and documentaries bear witness to the contemporary nature of the peoples of the Amazon, while questioning stereotypes and revealing the power of stories told from within, carried by those who live the realities filmed on a daily basis, sometimes denouncing injustices and violence, sometimes sharing traditional knowledge.

This is an opportunity to discover cinema dedicated to less "Western" populations and to pay tribute to those voices that are rarely heard, through current themes: the quest for identity and belonging, relations with the "white" world, environmental and territorial issues, etc.

• To be read
• Top cinemas in Paris

On the program 

• Thursday, November 13—7 p.m.: Le chant de la forêt(The Song ofthe Forest), a film by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora

At nightfall, in a village in northern Brazil, Ihjãc, a young man from the Krahô tribe, suddenly hears the voice of his deceased father. He realizes that the time has come to organize the funeral ceremony intended to free the spirit of the deceased and bring closure to the mourning period. Gifted with the power to speak to the dead, Ihjãc nevertheless rejects his destiny as a shaman and flees to the city, where he is confronted with another reality: that of the life of a member of an indigenous people in today's Brazil.

• Saturday, November 15 - 3 p.m.: Unti, les origines(Unti, the Origins), a film by Yanuwana Christophe Pierre 

A documentary film that takes us on a journey of discovery along the Maroni River (French Guiana) to the hills of Tumuc-Humac, on the Brazilian border. A member of the Kali'na people, the director explores ancestral customs, spirituality, and the deep ties that bind his people to the land and its history. But through his eyes, we also see the threats to this culture: the destruction of the land, the disappearance of shamanism, and contemporary social challenges.

• Sunday, November 16-3 p.m.: La Chute du ciel (The Fall from the Sky), Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha

The Yanomami, an indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon, are fighting to protect their territory and their ancestral way of life from the threat of the "people of the commodity." Through the powerful words of Davi Kopenawa, shaman and charismatic spokesperson for his community, the film delves into the heart of Yanomami cosmology and makes an urgent appeal to save the forest and reinvent our relationship with nature.

• 5:00 p.m.: The Transformation of Canuto, Ariel Kuaray Ortega and Ernesto de Carvalho 

In a small Mbyá-Guarani community between Brazil and Argentina, everyone remembers Canuto, a man who, many years ago, is said to have transformed into a jaguar before dying tragically. Blending documentary and fiction, the film draws on the words of local residents to recreate this metamorphosis and explore the deep connections between humans, nature, and ancestral stories.

Amazônia at the musée du quai Branly: the exhibition at the heart of indigenous cultures unveiled
Discover the ancestral arts and contemporary creations of the Amazon's indigenous peoples. As part of the Brazil-France 2025 Season, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac presents Amazônia, an original exhibition on view from September 30, 2025 to January 18, 2026. [Read more]