Day 1 | Forest Cinema

Dharamshala International Film Festival has a peripatetic and constantly changing programme called DIFF On the Road, part of the festival’s mandate to build networks of cinematic solidarity and to extend the space for discourse around independent cinema. In keeping with the current 421 exhibition Way of the Forest, here it showcases two films that delve deeply into the myths, legends, and spirits of disappearing forests and their lingering impact on those forced to migrate to the concrete jungles of urban worlds.

An Invocation to the Earth dir Yeo Siew Hua, Singapore (2020: 16 min)

Conceived during 2019, when large-scale fires were consuming the forests of Indonesia, the film confronts climate collapse through the lens of pre-colonial folktales and animistic rituals.

The Fever dir Maya Da-Rin, Brazil (2019: 98 min)

Featuring dialogue in both Portuguese and indigenous languages, this drama/thriller features a main cast of indigenous Brazilian from the Upper Rio Negro. Justino is a security guard at the harbour in Manaus; just as his daughter prepares to leave to study medicine in Brasília, Justino succumbs to a mysterious fever. During the day, he fights to stay awake at work; during the night, a mysterious creature dogs his footsteps. A visit from his brother makes him remember the life he left deep in the jungle 20 years before. Between the oppression of the city and the distance of his native village, Justino is no longer able to endure an existence without a sense of belonging.