Werá Mirim

What happens when your land is being claimed as event zone for the two biggest sport events of the planet? A question that applies to the multi-ethnic urban Indigenous community of Aldeia Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as they face increased pressure ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The Indigenous group lives right next to the sport stadium that stages the finals of both sport events. They wish to maintain their land as an Indigenous meeting place, like it has been since the early 20th century, but that does not correspond with the plans of the Brazilian authorities and the corporations coming with the sport events. From within the Indigenous settlement, the film explores how the arrival of the sport events is being experienced, how the pressure rises and how the community resists.

On the outskirts of São Paulo city, a train cuts through an indigenous territory. Within this territory, Jera dreams, and in her dreams the city invades her village. In the same community, Rete, an animal that can move through different dimensions, remembers the history of an ancient river, swallowed by the city centuries ago.