Yanuni Sheffield DocFest

Indigenous chief Juma Xipaia fights to protect tribal lands despite assassination attempts. Her struggle intensifies after learning she's pregnant, while her husband, Special Forces ranger Hugo Loss, stands by her side.

Yanuni, Richard Ladkani

From mercury poisoning in the luscious, picturesque Amazon rainforest to gun violence in the city centre of Brasília, Yanuni tells the harrowing yet inspiring story of Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous chief, as she fights for the right to live on ancestral lands, raise children in safety, and resist the violence and demolition of the Amazon rainforest. Children are dying from mercury poisoning. Indigenous people are being shot for protesting. Oxygen tanks are exploding. The rainforest is gasping. Illegal miners—armed and backed by the government —roam the forest freely. These are not scripted action sequences with a guaranteed happy ending—this is real life.

It’s hard not to be completely encapsulated by the story. The film pulses with a sense of magic, spiritual vitality, and the deep connection between community and the natural world. You feel it in your bones—the breath of the forest, the liveliness of being rooted in your home—and the tragedy of being pushed out of that home you know and love.

Additionally, this film sheds light on the paramount importance of using film to document illegal crimes committed by settler populations much like in the successful Palestinian film No Other Land and The Stand about The Haida Nation in modern day Canada (also featured at Sheffield DocFest), Yanuni leaves you in a pool of sadness and anger, asking yourself: Why are these communities still forced to fight for basic rights after 500 years of colonisation? It’s sickening. It further shows the world as a place that is infected by impunity and moral failure.

These stories are essential, and they are not going anywhere.

The question remains: When will colonisation actually end? How long will we be placated with symbolic gestures, hollow words, and token reforms while the injustice continues?

★ ★ ★ ★

Release Date: June 14th 2025
Director(s) Richard Ladkani
Producer Anita Ladkani / Malaika Pictures, Juma Xipaia, Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Ladkani, Phillip Watson, Jennifer Davisson
Starring Juma Xipaia, Hugo Loss

Cinematography Richard Ladkani, Fabio Nascimento
Runtime: 112 minutes