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Bruno Jorge’s quietly observed film has an added poignance as the leader of the expedition to immunise one of Brazil’s isolated tribes is murdered activist Bruno Pereira

‘It doesn’t hurt to get your image,” says one man to another, nodding towards the camera. Both men are Korubo, an Indigenous tribe that lives deep in the Amazon rainforest. The man hesitant about being filmed has never seen a camera before. He belongs to an “uncontacted” group, who have lived completely isolated from the outside world – until now. This first contact is documented by film-maker Bruno Jorge in his fascinating, occasionally frustrating film – two-and-a-half hours of observation with no added frills. No interviews, no context, no explainers.

Jorge follows a 2019 expedition organised by Funai, Brazil’s agency for Indigenous people, which as a rule has a no-contact policy with isolated tribes. This expedition is necessary to immunise the uncontacted...

The documentary festival also announced the ‘Filmmaker Challenge’ participants and key guest speakers

Filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Bafta film committee chair Anna Higgs are among the jurors for the Sheffield DocFest (June 14-19) competition strands.

Longinotto, who directed 2005 documentary Sisters In Law, will sit on the international competition jury alongside Mexican filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes and While We Watched director Vinay Shukla.

Higgs joins the international first feature competition jury with fellow producer Sonja Henrici and director Rosa Ruth Boesten whose debut documentary Master Of Light won the grand jury prize at SXSW in 2022.

The jury for the Tim Hetherington award...

Exclusive: Cinema Libre Studio has acquired a pair of films for its upcoming release slate: At War, the French-language drama about French union workers who battle their corporate bosses to save their jobs, and Piripkura, a Brazilian documentary about the uncontacted people of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. The latter is on the long list for this year’s Best Documentary Oscar race and is getting a qualifying U.S. release later this month.

At War, which is aiming for a March 2019 theatrical bow, reteams director Stéphane Brizé and Vincent Lindon. The semi-improvised social drama stars Lindon as a blue-collar union rep who acts as spokesperson for the 1100 employees of Perrin Industries, an automotive parts plant in southwest France who have waived bonuses and unpaid hours to keep the operation going for an additional five years. After German management orders the plant closed, the workers begin a labor strike,...