Rejeito: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Residents of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais are waging a David-and-Goliath battle against the mining company Vale. Iron ore mining produces waste that is stored in river basins retained by huge, poorly constructed dams. The people who live nearby are in great danger.

The last catastrophic dam failure occurred in 2019, when a torrent of red mud engulfed countless villages, killing 270 people and causing a vast environmental disaster. Yet so far domestic nor international politics have done anything to stand in the way of the multinational, multi-billion-dollar company: plans for a brand new mine are already underway.

The camera follows environmental activist and parliamentary committee member Maria Teresa Corujo in her tireless, unequal fight against the scandalously indifferent mining giant, and follows a group of residents who were forced to leave their village but now return in protest. Aesthetic, abstract shots of mining and river flows punctuate scenes of sometimes highly emotional meetings and evictions.

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