In the depths of South America, where the Andes, the Amazon and the Equator collide, a wilderness exists that was home to some of the last remaining uncontacted people on Earth.
Director: Ryan Killackey
94 min., USA, 2016
Subtitles: Russian
Language: English
In the depths of South America, where the Andes, the Amazon and the Equator collide, a wilderness exists that was home to some of the last remaining uncontacted people on Earth. The forest in which they live may claim our planet’s highest biodiversity. A place where mammals, birds, plants and amphibians reach peak diversity, together. Because of its biological diversity and cultural significance, the forest was designated a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve and Ecuador’s largest national park. It is now known as Yasuni the Man and Biosphere Reserve.
Well before it had a name, it was the territory of the Waorani – fierce warriors bound to the forest. After the discover of Ecuador’s largest petroleum reserves in the 1940s, petroleum companies have had their eye on Yasuni with aims to develop it becoming a priority in the Ecuadorian government. After years of failed attempts to develop sites within Yasuni, Shell Petroleum abandoned its concessions due to a series of violent clashes with the Waorani that left several oil workers dead.
Soon after the oil companies abandoned the land, missionaries moved in seeking to convert the Waorani. They met the same resistance the oil companies had fought, and ended up speared to death and cast into the Tiguino River. Now, in 2017, Yasuni and the Waorani hang on the edge of collapse. Yasuni Man, a documentary feature, tells the story of the conflict in Yasuni that has pitted biodiversity and human rights against extractive industries and human consumption.