Cunha, M. 2026. Forthcoming. Exhausted bodies, crystal worlds: Indigenous relationality and more-than-human care in Amazonian films. in: Bayman, L. and Quinlivan, D. (ed.) Radical Embodiment on Film: Time and the Cinematic Body Bloomsbury Publishing.
| Chapter title | Exhausted bodies, crystal worlds: Indigenous relationality and more-than-human care in Amazonian films |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cunha, M. |
| Editors | Bayman, L. and Quinlivan, D. |
| Abstract | This chapter proposes an analysis of the fabulation of indigenous conceptual worlds in the Amazonian films A febre (The Fever, 2020) and Chuva é cantoria na aldeia dos mortos (The Dead and the Others, 2018). Resulting from a collaborative process between the directors and indigenous actors, the films narrate the exhaustion of their protagonists. Using the trope of exhaustion as an affective embodiment of trauma and grief, as well as a depletion of possibilities, I argue that the films move towards a fabulation of different epistemological dimensions that respond to the conflicts present in the encounter between different (life)worlds to propose possibilities of healing, care, and coexistence in times of crisis. I contend that both films achieve this through their exploration of dreams in their narrative and aesthetic constructions. Finally, I examine how the films mobilise non-Western epistemic dimensions and systems of knowledge to make visible a more-than-human engagement with the life-worlds of the forest and indigenous subjectivities. |
| Book title | Radical Embodiment on Film: Time and the Cinematic Body |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 05 Feb 2026 |
| Edition | 1 |
| ISBN | 9781350370630 |