The Xavante people lived happily in isolation for hundreds of years until the 1940s when the white men entered their world and changed their lives forever. Slashing through the forest, the explorers filmed their discovery of these 'primitive natives'. Original archive shows the arrival of the whites, or warazu as the Xavante called them. Utterly bewildered by the white man's arrival, the Xavante shot bows and arrows at their planes. Nothing in their belief system could explain these intruders and their faith in progress. The wazaru brought clothes and disease, and felled precious trees. Nothing about the Xavante's life would ever be the same again.

Five decades on, the Xavante turn the camera on themselves to tell their own story. They describe their struggle to keep their shrinking territory safe for future generations. They want to tell the warazu that they reject their culture, before it's too late. 'You never entered our house respectfully. You never think of the consequences of your actions'. And they want to tell other tribes who have embraced progress that they too can still live with a sense of integrity with the land. It's not only a source of food and shelter, it's at the very heart of Xavante existence. 'The land was here when we came and the land will remain when we pass away. It will be here - forever.' Whites don't respect the land because they don't feel they depend on it. They fly planes and drive cars. They don't care what heritage they leave behind. They are not the land's 'True' custodians.

The message comes to us not through conventional narration, but through the voices of the village elders themselves. They teach us the importance of Tradition, for the Xavante live as long as they keep their Tradition alive. The entire Xavante tribe is clinging to Tradition as hard as they can and hoping there will be enough forest left for them. Their village life is very simple yet overwhelmingly harmonious and peaceful. Dance and song accompany all activities. Music is a medicine, a source of strength, and expression of their freedom. Images of ceremony and dance dissolve into one another, evoking the poetry of forest life. Music and song provide a rhythmic soundtrack. The elders speak a message that can not be ignored - live and let live.

Edited to the beat of Xavante dance, this deeply moving and beautiful film is a plea from the heart of an ancient race. Will we allow such distinct and self-sufficient cultures to survive in this age of global capitalism?

Produced by Angela M.Pappiani/Cristina Floria/Sindiuve