I traveled to the Brazilian Amazon on several occasions between 1987-1990 to assist on television documentaries. During my journeys, I had the opportunity to visit many Indigenous communities, always with my camera by my side. What caught my eye were the children. Born to parents who had relied on the rainforest for their survival, these children were growing up surrounded by new ways—ways that were destroying the forest.
I was also drawn to the children of the rubber tappers…the people who harvest the wild rubber trees. The trees they relied on were also being cut down. I photographed the legendary rubber tapper Chico Mendes and his family. Chico had become renowned the world over for his nonviolent resistance movement to protect the rainforest.
15 years later—and a world away—I returned to these slides, which were never printed, never shared. The images brought back a particularly searing memory: a phone call from Chico in December 1988, asking me to film his funeral. I told him he was crazy, he wasn’t going to die, he had too much work to do. Two weeks later he was shot dead by a rancher. Stirred by faces of the children in my photographs and haunted by Chico’s untimely death, I was inspired to travel to the Amazon again—this time, to make a movie.
While I expected change, I was not prepared for the extent of it. So much of the forest had been destroyed. My response to the loss is the creation of Children of the Amazon — a tribute to a people struggling to save their forest home. But the goal of the film is more than to bear witness. I hope to offer insight to a distant and remote land while simultaneously drawing connections to our own lives. For we are—all of us— Children of the Amazon breathing the same air, walking the same planet, and in some sense that we have yet to understand, sharing the same fate.
~ Denise Zmekhol
This is such an incredible and project, amazing movie. I fell in love with this project since the first time I visited the website. I read about Chico Mendes before and how much he fought for the forest. I wanna say thank you to Denise for sharing this wonderful material, I look foward to know more about it.
Parabéns, esta maravilhoso.
Muito bom Denise.. Parabens de novo!
I just watched Children of the Amazon on public television. It is a brilliant documentary… I learned so many things that I did not know about the Amazon and its people. Chico Mendes was an amazing hero and truly inspiring. I will recommend more people see this movie at my university as it is important for this story to reach far and wide… I feel everyone needs to do their part to help save the Amazon rain forest. Please don’t let this drop…
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Acabei de assistir Children of the Amazon na PBS. Que documentário brilhante… Aprendi tantas coisas que não sabia sobre a Amazônia e a sua população. Chico Mendes foi um herói incrível, verdadeiramente inspirador. Vou recomendar este filme para muitas pessoas na minha universidade pois é importante que esta história seja difundida… Acho que todos deveriam fazer sua parte para ajudar a salvar a floresta amazônica. Por favor não deixem este trabalho parar…
Dear Denise,
Congratulations on completing your excellent documentary on the Children of the Amazon. I watched it with great sadness and a sense of familiarity, having spent so many hours in the darkroom with your children in making the Cibachrome prints for you.
It was a real privilege to be involved in helping this important project come to fruition and I would like to continue to help the world know more about the plight of the people of the Amazon.
We are all children on a precarious path on the planet and your poignant work may be instrumental in awakening the world to the urgent need to reverse the ruthless, short sighted, exploitation of Indigenous populations for our own greed and addictions.
It all begins with overcoming ignorance and indifference. Please keep up your good work and perhaps we can present the exhibition we discused years ago to help spread this important message.
Sincerely,
Mark Chamberlain
BC Space Gallery