Italian-Argentinian director Marco Bechis’ Birdwatchers features Guarani Indians at centre stage, rather than, as in The Mission or Fitzcaraldo, as minor players. In Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, the farming classes lead a wealthy and leisurely existence. Owning vast swathes of agricultural land, they spend their nights entertaining the tourists who are on bird watching holidays. Meanwhile, the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowá people live an uneasy existence on the outside of this rural economy with few future prospects. When a suicide on the reserve rallies the locals to try and regain their land, a fragile romance emerges between the young shaman apprentice Osvaldo, and the farmer’s daughter Maria.

The film’s simple photography makes eloquent points about the effects of intensive bio-fuel cultivation on the landscape, and brings a warmth without giving in to the temptations of tribal exoticism. Although the striking soundtrack which includes choral works by early eighteenth-century composer Domenico Zipoli add a striking note to the story, a final website listing for tribal protection activists Survival, makes it clear that Bechis’ passionate film wears its heart very much on its sleeve.