Amazon Films & Documentaries
A curated library of films and documentaries on the Amazon rainforest, its peoples, and the fight for its future — from 1970s classics to new releases. Browse by decade or type, or search by title or keyword.
Raoni
Follows the struggle of Indigenous chief Raoni to protect the Xingu reserve and its peoples, under threat from hunters, land-grabbers, and loggers.
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The Emerald Forest
Tells the story of a Westerner who grows up as part of an Amazon tribe and re-enters urban civilization in search of family.
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Killing for Land
Shares the journey of poor farmers who migrate to the Amazon as homesteaders.
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The Killing of Chico Mendes
A documentary on the life and 1988 assassination of Chico Mendes, the rubber-tappers’ union leader who organized resistance to Amazon deforestation.
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Burning Season
A dramatized biopic of rubber-tapper union leader Chico Mendes (Raúl Julia), who rallied resistance to deforestation before his 1988 murder.
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The Fate of the Kidnapper
Tells the story of a homestead family and the Uru Eu Wau Wau tribe.
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Return from Extinction
Documents the invasion, disappearance and return of the Indigenous Panara tribe.
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The Shaman’s Apprentice
Follows an ethnobotanist in the Amazon searching for plants that heal.
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They Killed Sister Dorothy
Tells the story of Sister Dorothy Stang, her defense of the Amazon, and the trial that followed her assassination.
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Amazon with Bruce Parry
A BBC series in which Bruce Parry travels the length of the Amazon river, living with riverside and Indigenous communities and confronting the pressures facing the region.
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Children of the Amazon
Follows Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol as she travels a modern highway deep into the Amazon in search of the Indigenous Surui and Negarote children she photographed fifteen years before.
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Crude
Reports about a class action lawsuit against the Chevron Corporation for oil pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
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Fight for Amazonia
Follows Brazil's youngest national park director as she declares war on drug gangs and the logging mafia.
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Oil and Water
Tells the story of two young leaders and oil exploration in the Ecuadorean Amazon.
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Tipping Point: The Amazon
Chronicles the conflict between Brazilian economic development and Amazonian sustainability.
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Embrace of the Serpent
Dramatizes the journeys of an ethnographer, a shaman and a botanist through the Amazon in search of the rare plant yakruna.
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Taego Awa
Features the story of two filmmakers who found VHS tapes containing cultural records of the Ãwa tribe. In search of the group, they discovered a historic trajectory of confrontation with white people dating back to 1973.
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Beyond Fordlandia
Tells the story of the failed attempt by Henry Ford to create a rubber production plantation in the Amazon.
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The Crying Forest
Documents the story of activist Jose Ribeiro da Silva who died protecting the Amazon forest.
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Grazing the Amazon
Narrates the history of cattle in the Amazon from government policies back in the 1960s to the problems of deforestation today.
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Ex-Shaman
Tells the story of the Paiter Suruí, an Amazon people grappling with the pressures of modernity, and a former shaman searching for ways to restore his village’s vitality.
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The Amazon – The Awakening of Florestania
Is a portrait of how politics and destruction can go hand in hand, depending on the interests of those in power, and how the development of Brazil has been linked to the destruction of the forest.
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Aruanas
Is a fictional TV series about NGO activists who investigate illegal miners in the Brazilian Amazon.
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Green Frontier
On Netflix, is a fictional crime thriller miniseries about a detective who travels deep into the Amazon.
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Guardians of the Amazon
Is an ABC News documentary about a small indigenous group taking up arms to hunt down illegal loggers and fight for their land.
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REBBL with a Cause
Tells the origin story of beverage brand REBBL, which wild-harvests Brazil nuts and other ingredients in the Peruvian Amazon to generate income, prevent human trafficking, and conserve forests.
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How Crime Drives Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon
Features experiences of illegal mining, logging and other kinds of organized crime, and the burdens it puts on the forest.
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Guardians of the Forest
Tells the story of the Maijuna Indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon as they fight for their biologically rich ancestral lands and cultural survival.
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Amazon Uncovered
With support from the Munduruku audiovisual collective, shows Amazonian biodiversity and forest degradation over four decades while local populations unite to register their land.
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Nheengatu
Follows the search for speakers of a lost hybrid language used to reduce diversity and convert Amazonians to christianity in the upper Rio Negro.
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The Condor and the Eagle
Follows Indigenous leaders from North and South America as they unite across the continents in a shared fight for climate and environmental justice.
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The Story of the Siege of the Amazon
Documents the resistance of local Amazonians against the illegal advances of industry in the time of COVID19.
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Takeout
Chronicles Amazon forest fires, their causes, and recent deforestation trends while exploring food choices, greed, political corruption and other criminal activities.
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Martírio: 40 Years of Struggle for Survival
Explores genocide of the Guaraní Kaiowá people, their conflict with agribusiness, and their demand of the Brazilian Congress to recognize their land and halt evictions. (Screenings).
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Yasuni Man
Features the life and journey of the Waorani people of Ecuador, their nature and their struggle for conservation and survival against the advances of the oil industry. (Website).
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Antamiki
Follows a group of musicians to the Peruvian Amazon to learn about illegal logging from indigenous leaders.
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The Last Forest
Documents the Indigenous community of the Yanomami and depicts their threatened natural environment in the Amazon rain forest.
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Seeding Change
Is a documentary about new companies taking on the environmental crisis (including Amazon deforestation) and empowering consumers to make change by voting with their dollars.
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The Territory
Is a documentary about land conflict in the Amazon between indigenous people and cattle ranchers.
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We Are Guardians
Features the dynamics between an indigenous community protecting its forest, an illegal logger fighting poverty, and a large landowner facing invaders and extractive industries. We learn about the offerings of the forest and its role in global climate stability.
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Gyuri
Follows a Swiss photographer and an Indigenous leader who worked together to secure recognition of the Yanomami territory in the Amazon.
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The Invention of the Other
Chronicles a high-stakes, real-world expedition deep into the Amazon rainforest to establish contact with an isolated Indigenous group.
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Amazon Summit 2023
Examines the influence of social movements in shaping the agenda of the Pan-Amazonian summit of government leaders.
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Tracking Down the Amazon Mafia
As part of the series TRAFFICKED, Mariana van Zeller travels to the Amazon to track down the criminal networks behind a slew of killings and the illegal destruction of the rainforest.
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Forests of Food
A BBC News team visits Tome-Acu in Para, Brazil to meet a Japanese community that created a forest of food and became a reference for preventing deforestation.
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Yanuni
Profiles Indigenous chief and activist Juma Xipaia, who has survived six assassination attempts while defending her people's land from illegal gold miners and deforestation.
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CURA
A cinematic multi-channel installation co-created with Indigenous tribes across Colombia and Brazil — part film, part art installation, part healing ceremony, replacing narration with sound, vibration and image.
Visit the project →No films match your search.
