Amazon Mirror

In the 1980s, the Brazilian military government built a huge hydroelectric power plant in Amazonia, creating the Tucuruí reservoir. The electricity generated supplies the energy-hungry aluminium industry, but nearby inhabitants are still waiting even for solar panels to provide them with electricity. This large-scale project was beset by time pressure and excessive demands; the rainforest was not cleared before the flooding, and neither animals nor people were properly resettled. The dead trunks of gigantic primeval trees protrude from the water as a memorial to the environmental destruction caused by this vast project. Inspired by Paula Sampaio’s book of photographs “O Lago do Esquecimento” (“The Lake of Oblivion”) and shot in high-contrast black and white, the film brings us closer to the unspectacular and meagre lives of the those who live here. In his feature-length debut, Fernando Segtowick also addresses from the start his own presence as a documentary filmmaker and analyses moments of failure. The destructive exploitation of Amazonia as a result of the Tucuruí reservoir becomes the starting point for an investigation into the exploitation of the region in the past and present. (Berlinale)