Countdown on River Xingu V

On the struggle over mega dams and corruption in Brazil

Documentary screening and discussion with director Martin Kessler and indigenous guests

Sunday, 30 September, 17:00 – 19:00 | Cinemes Girona, Barcelona

In May 2016, Brazil’s then president, Dilma Rousseff, officially opened Belo Monte on the River Xingu, a tributary of the Amazon River. To make way for the world’s third largest dam, swaths of rainforest were cleared, fishermen and indigenous communities were displaced and 40,000 people were forcefully relocated. The end game: to generate electricity for multinational aluminium manufacturing companies. In the words of the public prosecutor, “all this goes against the law”.

Countdown on River Xingu V focusses on the penultimate construction phase of this mega dam: the flooding of the land. It reveals how the project came to be and what went on behind the scenes to make it happen. A scandal surrounding Brazil’s oil company Petrobras implicating major Brazilian construction companies and politicians is no small piece of the story.

With Martin Kessler, director of the documentary and tenacious follower of the project, as well as indigenous guests from COICA, the umbrella association of Amazon basin indigenous organisations, we will discuss the impacts of mega projects. We will explore the vital topic of responsibility as well as alternative approaches towards a future-proof energy transition.

We are happy to welcome you to this special event!

 

Photo: Adrian Rheinländer

 

This event has been financed in the framework of the project “Change the Power – (Em)Power to Change: Local Authorities towards the SDGs and Climate Justice“ with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Climate Alliance and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.