Join us as The Cube hosts a charity screening of this documentary about indigenous resistance, and a people's courage and creativity in the face of globalization. Proceeds will go to Borneo charity Nurani Perempuan [Women’s Conscience] working to protect indigenous women's rights, more details below the trailer!

Doors: 7.30pm / Screening: 8pm / Q&A: 9pm

What does the world’s most watched mega-event and a remote indigenous community have in common?

A forgotten indigenous tribe in Borneo is devastated by a merciless logging company. Determined to find the source of the forces ravaging their ancestral forest, three tribesmen take matters into their own hands and follow their stolen wood. This sets in motion a quest which will take them to Tokyo, and the heart of the Olympic phenomenon.

Borneo, most of which is Indonesian territory, is the third largest island in the world and one of the most important Borneo is one of the most important rainforest areas on earth. Only 60 years ago, it was almost completely covered by primary forest. This forest is home to many indigenous peoples and the diversity of species is greater here than anywhere else in the world. But the rainforest on Borneo is also being cleared to an increasingly greater extent to make way for palm oil and timber plantations. A habitat that is thousands of years old is threatening to disappear.

Nurani Perempuan [Women’s Conscience] is an indigenous-led non-profit which has been working with the Dayak Bahau indigenous women for over two decades in East Kalimantan, Indonesia to protect and safeguard their rights. 

The charity was founded in 1999 to promote the rights and welfare of indigenous peoples along the Mahakam River in Indonesian Borneo (East Kalimantan). Their philosophy centres on the belief that indigenous women should be able to develop their own answers to the real and pressing challenges of imposed ‘development’ rather than it being dictated by local, national, or international actors.

In Indonesia, indigenous peoples are losing their livelihoods at the cost of palm oil expansion. Women disproportionately bear the brunt of these injustices. The principal threat to their livelihood is the existence of investors on their ancestral lands. In a country where most indigenous communities hold land under customary tenure systems, the lack of formal title makes them especially vulnerable to land grabs. Concessions are imposed without their consent, squeezing the country’s most vulnerable to unsustainable positions. 

Women want to be economic actors, to move away from the prevalent dependence model which is currently being promoted by the Indonesian State. To resolve these imbalances, several indigenous women’s groups have found innovative ways to combat the expansion of unethical agribusiness. Forming cooperatives to raise independent funds to challenge the legality of unwanted investors on their territories. Their work focuses on supporting these groups to defend their lands and forests from logging and palm oil industries which are taking over their territories without their consent.