APIYEMIYEKÎ?

This cinematographic portrait originates in 3,000 drawings made by the Waimiri-Atroari, a people native to the Brazilian Amazon. The drawings are animated onto landscapes and sights, serving as a visual memory of the violent attacks they were submitted to during Brazil’s military dictatorship.

This multi-layered, glimmering short from Ana Vaz makes a salient study of how colonial violence crushed an Indigenous community. The expressive drawings of the Waimiri-Atroari speak to the silent horrors of the dictatorship, leaving us with a single question: Apiyemiyekî? translates to “why?”