The Right to Reap, the Right to Film in “Agahü: o sal do Xingu”, de Takumã Kuikuro

Abstract

This article looks over the short film Agahü: Xingu Salt (2020) by Takumã Kuikuro, an indigenous film director, and its production context in the Xingu Indigenous Territory, Mato Grosso, Brazil. The documentary movie dialogues with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, more specifically with the right to freedom of thought, consciousness and religion, in order to emphasize that “traditional salt” combines science, art, faith. Special highlight is given to the dynamics of imagery production, considering audiovisual and social-political developments from the elaboration of the script, translation and editing choices. The focus is also on the relationship that Kuikuro society has with traditional salt. Resistance, from the insistence on a Kuikuro way of life, is understood through the sight of environmental sustainability in the face of standing up for the right to harvest their own food.