Double murder, which gained international repercussion, completes one year

The International Environmental Film and Video Festival (FICA) – which will be held from the 13th to the 18th of June, in the city of Goiás – will pay tribute to the Brazilian indigenist Bruno Araújo and the British journalist Dom Phillips, both murdered a year ago, in on June 5th, during a trip through Vale do Javari, the second largest indigenous land in Brazil, in the extreme west of Amazonas.

The tribute will be during the opening ceremony, on the 13th, at 6:30 pm, at Cine Teatro São Joaquim. On the occasion, videos will be shown showing the honorees and a letter written by anthropologist Beatriz de Almeida Matos, widow of Bruno Pereira, who is also director of the Department of Territorial Protection and Isolated Indigenous Peoples of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, will also be read.

FICA will be held between the 13th and 18th of June 2023, in the city of Goiás. Promoted by the Government of Goiás, through the State Secretariat for Culture (Secult), co-organized by the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), by through the Educational Radio and Television Foundation (FRTVE). The event also has a partnership with the State Secretariat for Resumption, Goiás Social, State University of Goiás (UEG), Federal Institute of Goiás (UFG), Social Service of Commerce (Sesc) and City Hall of the city of Goiás.

Indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips were victims of an ambush, in the Javari Valley, close to the community of São Rafael, in the triple border region between Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Ironically, on the day World Environment Day is celebrated, they were shot in the back by illegal fishermen, at the behest of organized crime financiers.

The crime shocked Brazil and gained international repercussions. Bruno Pereira was highly knowledgeable about the Amazon region and worked to protect indigenous territories and communities. Dom Phillips was a British journalist and was collecting information for the production of a book, interviewing indigenous and riverside leaders. Due to the relevance of both, FICA 2023 will carry out the tribute.

“Bruno was one of the greatest active indigenous people in Brazil, who had in-depth knowledge of indigenous communities and the Amazon. It is an irreparable loss for Funai, for indigenous peoples and for Brazil. And, Dom by his side as a journalist, a foreigner who chose Brazil to live, and who with his work sought to denounce and give consequences to his vision of what Brazil's relationship with the Amazon and its indigenous communities should be. ”, says Pedro Novaes, artistic coordinator of FICA 2023.

Novais highlights the role of FICA in honoring and marking the relevance of people who lost their lives in defense of the Amazon, the environment and the people of the forest, and raising this issue. “It is a very tragic fact. There are many cases like this. Some stand out for their specific situation, for the work they did, like Chico Mendes and Dorothy Stang. And now Dom and Bruno. But like them we have possibly hundreds, perhaps thousands of others who are not remembered.”

24th International Environmental Film and Video Festival
When: June 13th to 18th
Location: City of Goiás, Goiás.
Tribute to Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips
When: June 13th (Tuesday), at 6:30 pm
Location: Cine Teatro São Joaquim

Press office
Word Communication
Contact: (62) 98162-4898 / 99979-5256
Email: noticias@palavracom.com
Instagram: @palavracomunicacao