Rediance, a China-based international sales agent, has acquired world sales rights to “The Falling Sky,” a feature documentary that will premiere next month at Cannes in the Directors Fortnight section. The film portrays the indigenous community of Watorikɨ as it engages in a funeral rite known as the reahu, which is a collective effort to hold up the sky and prevent it from falling.
Directed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, “The Falling Sky” is based on the book of the same title by shaman and Yanomami leader Davi Kopenawa and French anthropologist Bruce Albert. The film stands as a trenchant shamanic critique of the destruction of the Yanomami’s way of life caused by intrusions into their territory by white prospectors and so-called civilized world.
Rocha’s tenth feature film, “The Falling Sky” is his third time at Cannes, where he previously won the L’Oeil d’Or Award for “Cinema Novo” in 2016. Co-director Carneiro da Cunha is a Brazilian artist, theater director, performer, filmmaker and environmental art activist who has worked for more than a decade with the Brazilian Amazon. Previously, they worked together on 2021 film “Edna,” as well as on a collection of short films directed by Yanomami directors: “The Tree of Dreams,” “Fishing With Timbó” and “A Woman Thinking.”
Produced by Aruac Filmes, co-produced by Hutukara Associação Yanomami and Stemal Entertainment with Rai Cinema, in collaboration with Les Films d’Ici. Rediance will also be handling Chinese-speaking territories for co-production project “Grand Tour,” by Miguel Gomes, which premieres in the Official Selection’s main competition at Cannes. The company is continuing to do business on its recent Berlin titles: Nele Wohlatz’ “Sleep With Your Eyes Open” and Qu Youjia’s “She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones.” Last year, it also handled Anthony Chen’s “The Breaking Ice.”
