Eryk Rocha’s ‘The Falling Sky’: A Stunning Critique of Colonialism and the Yanomami People

Rediance, an international sales agent based in China, has acquired the world sales rights to the feature documentary film “The Falling Sky.” The film is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month in the Directors Fortnight section.

Directed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, “The Falling Sky” focuses on the Amazonian Yanomami people as its main subjects. Based on the book of the same name by shaman and Yanomami leader Davi Kopenawa and French anthropologist Bruce Albert, the documentary showcases the indigenous community of Watorikɨ. It captures a funeral rite called the reahu, in which the community collectively works to hold up the sky and prevent it from falling. The film serves as a shamanic critique of the destruction of the Yanomami way of life due to intrusions by outsiders.

Rocha’s tenth feature film, “The Falling Sky,” is praised for its captivating visuals, meticulous sound design, and the powerful words of Davi Kopenawa that delve into the beauty of Yanomami cosmology and knowledge. Co-director Carneiro da Cunha, an artist and activist who has worked extensively in the Brazilian Amazon, collaborated with Rocha on