Directors Fortnight Documentary ‘The Falling Sky’ Sets World Sales With Rediance (EXCLUSIVE)

China-based international sales agent Rediance has acquired world sales rights to “The Falling Sky,” a feature documentary which will premiere next month at Cannes in the Directors Fortnight section. Directed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, the film makes the Amazonian Yanomami people its stars.

Based on the book of the same title by shaman and Yanomami leader Davi Kopenawa and French anthropologist Bruce Albert, “The Falling Sky” 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.

The film stands as a trenchant shamanic critique of the destruction of the Yanomami’s way of life caused by the intrusions of the napë, the white prospectors and the so-called civilized world into the Yanomami territory.

“The spellbinding images, meticulous sound design, and powerful words of Davi Kopenawa tap into the beauty of Yanomami cosmology and its xapiri spirits while also highlighting the geopolitical importance of the Yanomami knowledge,” said Rediance.

“The Falling Sky” is Rocha’s tenth feature film, and 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, the pair worked together on 2021 film “Edna,” as well as on a collection of 2023 short films directed by Yanomami directors: “The Tree of Dream,” “Fishing With Timbó” and “A Woman Thinking.”

“The Falling Sky” is produced by Aruac Filmes, co-produced by Hutukara Associação Yanomami and Stemal Entertainment with Rai Cinema, in collaboration with Les Films d’Ici.

At Cannes, 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.

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.”