FILMS
THE TRUE LIFE FUND 2022 SELECTION: THE TERRITORY
In 2007, True/False created the True Life Fund as a philanthropic effort to raise money and awareness for the subjects of a new nonfiction film each year. The Fund offers tangible assistance to the subjects of a film and acknowledges that documentary filmmakers and festivals thrive because of the personal stories shared with us. Support for the True Life Fund comes from outreach within the Columbia community and generous donations from True/False attendees. The 2022 True Life Fund film is Alex Pritz’s The Territory and the recipient of this year’s Fund is the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous surveillance team. Only in contact with the Brazilian government since 1981, the Uru-eu-wau-wau community and its young leaders fight the miners and farmers who invade their lands with the effective weapons of cameras and drones. Risking their lives to document the invasions on their land, the surveillance team is the tribe’s best opportunity for survival. Funds raised will go toward helping the Uru-eu-wau-wau community in its ongoing documentation efforts to preserve Indigenous land in the Amazon. Each year, with mostly small cash donations, festival participants contribute roughly $25,000 to directly impact the subjects of the TLF film. This year, attendees have the opportunity to make a direct impact on the people of the Uru-eu-wau-wau community. Through the True Life Fund, True/False acknowledges the risks, sacrifices, and contributions of documentary subjects; the dangerous documentation efforts undertaken by the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous surveillance team are essential to preserving their way of life and Indigenous land in Brazil. This beautiful and compelling film confronts ongoing land grabs and deforestation in the Amazon; indigenous forests are rapidly disappearing at the hands of farmers and government inaction. Director Alex Pritz, who brought The Territory through the True/False Film Fest and Catapult Film Fund’s Rough Cut Retreat in 2021 (then, The Untitled Amazon Project), collaborated with the Uru-eu-wau-wau community to bring the heart of the Amazon into the global consciousness. Donations to the 2022 True Life Fund recipient may be given at all screenings of The Territory, online at truelifefund.org, or by texting TLF to 53-555 (accepts Venmo, PayPal, bank transfer, or credit card). 6
