Kujãesage Kaiabi

AMAZON RJF GRANTEE

Rainforest
Journalism Fund
Amazon

A filmmaker and student of the Kaiabi people, Kujãesage Kaiabi lives in the Indigenous territory of Xingu, where she stands out as one of the most prominent female figures in the audiovisual industry.

Trained at the Catitu Institute, Kujãesage has in recent years built her career as the only female filmmaker of the Kaiabi people. Kujãesage first became interested in filmmaking after participating in the recording of the short film Cutia and the Monkey in 2011. From that moment on, she became interested in the audiovisual industry and in 2012 she participated in the Xinguana Women's Meeting, as well as the Youth Meeting in the village Ilha Grande of the Kaiabi people.

Kujãesage presented a film at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, has participated in the coverage of the Women's Meeting in Acre and the Itaú Cultural Institute in São Paulo, and has given audiovisual training workshops in the villages of the Upper Xingu. In 2016, she made the film Meriup, and in 2017 released a documentary about the traditional festival of the Kaiabi people.

In 2018 she covered the Mobilization of Indigenous Leaders in the Acampamento Terra Livre in Brasilia. In the same year, she also coordinated the AIC project. In 2019 Kujãesage launched a social network mobilization campaign among the people of the Xingu against the retrocession of the federal government, together with the filmmaker Kamikia Kisedje and the Women's Movements of the Xingu campaign. In 2020 Kujãesage participated in the Video in the Villages project of the audiovisual workshop led by the Enawene-Nawe people.

She is currently organizing and training a group of young Kaiabi filmmakers. Kujãesage is part of the team of communicators of the Xingu Network.

Kujãesage Kaiabi headshot