words Alexa Wang
Step into the heart of the Amazon, where the forest breathes resistance and the body becomes a sacred battleground. Uýra – The Rising Forest is a powerful, soul-stirring documentary from Juliana Curi following Uýra, a transgender Indigenous artist, as they traverse their ancestral lands using performance, transformation, and activism as tools of healing and defiance.
Adorned in living sculptures made of plants, flowers, waste, and pigment, Uýra’s body becomes a canvas—a vibrant protest against environmental destruction and systemic racism. Each performance draws from deep ecological knowledge, turning pain into beauty, and oppression into art.
More than a film, this is a vision of kinship—between people, land, and spirit. It’s a radical act of hope.
Juliana Curi is an award-winning Brazilian-Latina director whose work explores feminism, diversity, and social change through bold, visually striking storytelling. Described as “captivating and one-of-a-kind” (Golden Globes) and “dazzling performance art” (Deadline), her debut feature UÝRA – The Rising Forest (2022) has screened at the Barbican, BAM, Fondazione Prada, and the DGA Theater, earning 19 international awards.
With over a decade of experience directing for global brands and recognition from UN Women for defying gender stereotypes, Juliana was recently selected for the Directors Guild of America’s Director Development Initiative, where she’s mentored by industry veterans.
She is also the founder of a mentorship initiative for emerging filmmakers, rooted in her belief that storytelling can be a powerful force for transformation.
Uýra – The Rising Forest
18:30 Thu 22 May, Regent Street Cinema
Screening + Introduction by Mariana Cunha
Brazil/USA, 2022 | Dir. Juliana Curi | 72 min
Portuguese with English subtitles
Part of the Fashion in Film Festival 2025: GROUNDED
An extraordinary UK-wide season exploring fashion’s entanglement with nature through the lens of cinema. From the poetic to the political, GROUNDED spans over 80 titles that trace our changing relationships to the natural world—through beauty, resistance, and radical imagination.
Curated by Marketa Uhlirova and Dal Chodha, with guest curators
Fashion in Film Festival | Central Saint Martins | fashioninfilm.com
