15 minutes that'll wreck your definition of heroism.
Across the Amazon, Indigenous guards are unarmed patrols that peacefully defend ancestral territories against threats like oil, mining and poaching. They use diverse technologies to monitor their lands, and when necessary, force out illegal operations and actors. Most of this daily work, which involves lengthy hikes and patient observation, goes unseen. This film depicts the process of the Indigenous Guard: its patrols, its watchful vigilance over the landscape, and its support of the community. Their work as guards helps ensure that destruction in the Amazon doesn’t advance, and that their community has the vital space it needs to live life on their own terms.
Cinematography
River-as-character cinematography that breathes.
Direction
Gill's restraint lets the Guard's presence speak.
Director
Dominic Gill
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Sinangoe Guard won a historic 2022 court case halting mining on 52,000 hectares—this film captures their everyday vigilance that made that possible.
Dominic Gill spent months embedded without crew, shooting alone to minimize disruption—a method that mirrors the Guard's own philosophy of presence over intrusion.
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