A report by the Wenner-Gren Foundation presents the work “As Far as the Eye Can See”

"As Far as the Eye Can See" is a feature-length film (77 min) that tells the story of the struggle of the Kariri-Xocó people of Alagoas state for their lands. In the film, three generations of Kariri-Xocó Indigenous people join forces on an expedition to explore their lands, a memorial to their people, expropriated over centuries of colonization. Their language, knowledge, and even their rituals were hidden as a survival strategy. Now, armed with cameras, drones, pipes, headdresses, and maracas, they travel the geographical landmarks of their territory in a road movie that prepares for new land reclamations. The film was co-directed by Hidalgo Romero and produced by Laboratório Cisco, a documentary production company based in Campinas, São Paulo.

The work is the result of research Alice Villela conducted during her postdoctoral studies at the Department of Anthropology at USP on the relationship between the struggle for land and Kariri-Xocó music (cf. Small, 1998), under the supervision of Rose Satiko Gitirana Hikiji, coordinator of the Image and Sound Laboratory in Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (LISA-USP). The research was developed in conjunction with the FAPESP Thematic Project (Grant: 16/05318-7): "Local Music: New Paths for Ethnomusicology," coordinated by Suzel Reily of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp).

Postproduction for the film was completed during Alice's postdoctoral studies in Ethnographic Cinema in 2023, with support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

Access the report on the film “As Far as the Eye Can See” recently published on the Wenner-Gren Foundation website: https://wennergeren.org/article/fejos-postdoctoral-fellow-alice-villela/