The Amazon is a vast laboratory for sustainable experiments that are revealing new relationships among human beings, corporations, and the natural heritage crucial for life on the planet. This is where the guidelines are being drawn up for a new global economic model: the green economy. With an astonishing soundtrack and cinematography, Eternal Amazon presents a critical analysis of how the world’s largest tropical rainforest is understood and utilized. Exploring the Amazon’s five million square kilometers—home to 20% of the world’s freshwater reserves—the film asks whether it is possible for humans to make sustainable use of the rainforest by featuring nine successful projects for sustainable forest use that directly benefit the local population and foster good economic partnerships. Experts like economist Sergio Besserman, ecologists Bertha Becker and Virgilio Viana, and Amazonians themselves explain activities such as agriculture, fisheries, and animal husbandry. The film portrays the daily lives of the forest people as the guardians of this great natural heritage that, if properly managed, could last into eternity.
There will be a post-film discussion by the filmmaker, Belisário Franca, in collaboration with Human Dimensions of Climate Change Film Series. This film is the last film of the Latin American Film Festival and the first film in the Human Dimensions of Climate Change Film Series.
