Go back

Permalink: news/avatar-director-james-cameron-joins-amazon-tribes-fight-to-halt-giant-dam
Posted: 2 years ago

Avatar director James Cameron joins Amazon tribe's fight to halt giant dam

Courtesy of guardian.co.uk

One by one, the tribal leaders of the Brazilian Xingu took to their feet, wearing yellow and red feather headdresses and clutching thick wooden clubs and spears. Having travelled for days to reach the gathering in the isolated village of Mrotidjam, the Xikrin Kayapó elders stepped forward to address their visitor, a man they knew simply as Camerón.

"If they build this dam, our children will die," said one, his eyes painted a fiery red with seeds from the urucum tree. "There will be no more fish, no more hunting," another told the outsider. "I want my grandchildren to live in peace," said a third. "The dam will take that away."

Sitting before them on a wooden schoolroom chair, the guest, better known outside the rainforest as Hollywood player and director of the blockbuster 3D film Avatar, James Cameron, listened intently before addressing his hosts. "We're here to listen to what you are saying, to hear your concerns and, because I am a film-maker, to share this with the outside world," he said. "We're just here to help in any way we can."

Sitting with him as he spoke were Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore, who starred in Avatar, which charts the fight of the fictitious Na'vi people against outside attempts to pillage their resources on the planet Pandora.

Until last month Cameron had never been to the Brazilian Amazon, home to the world's greatest tropical rainforest. Now, however, he has become the figurehead of an international campaign against Amazon destruction and specifically the multibillion-dollar Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project, which many of the Xingu region's indigenous residents believe will wreak havoc in communities, flooding land in some places, drying up rivers in others and triggering an influx of workers, prostitution and disease.

To read full story, copy and paste the link below into your browser:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/18/avatar-james-cameron-brazil-dam

amazon, avatar, belo monte, brazil, damn, james cameron

Comments Login to leave comment