Director's Fortnite 'The Falling Sky' Sets Global Sales With Radiance

China-based international sales agency Radiance has acquired world sales rights to feature documentary “The Falling Sky,” which will premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes next month. Directed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, the film makes the Amazonian Yanomami people its stars.

Based on the book of the same title by shaman and Yanomami leader Davy Kopanawa and French anthropologist Bruce Albert, „The Falling Sky” depicts the tribal community of Watoriga as it engages in a funeral ritual called rehu, a collective effort. Catch the sky and stop falling.

The film stands as a shamanic critique of the destruction of the Yanomami way of life by the encroachments of Nabe, white people, and the so-called civilized world into Yanomami territory.

„Davy Kobenawa's spellbinding imagery, subtle sound design, and powerful words tap into the beauty of Yanomami cosmology and its sabiri spirits, while also highlighting the geopolitical significance of Yanomami knowledge,” Rediens said.

„The Falling Sky” is Rocha's tenth film and his third at Cannes, where he won the L'Oeil d'Or in 2016 for „Cinema Novo”. Co-director Carneiro da Cunha is a Brazilian artist, theater. The director, actor, filmmaker and eco-artist has worked in the Brazilian Amazon for over a decade.

Previously, the pair worked together on the 2021 feature film „Etna” and a 2023 collection of shorts directed by Yanomami directors: „The Tree of Dream,” „Fishing with Timbo” and „A Woman Thinking.”

“The Falling Sky” is produced by Arook Films in association with Les Films d'IC, Hudukara Associao Yanomami and Stemel Entertainment in association with Roy Cinema.

At Cannes, Radiance will also handle Chinese-speaking territories for Miguel Gomez's co-production “Grand Tour,” which is premiering in the main competition of Official Selection.

The company continues to do business with its recent Berlin titles: Nele Wohlatz's „Sleep With Your Eyes Open” and Qu Youjia's „She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones.” Last year, it also handled Anthony Chen's „The Breaking Eyes”.