MATA

One of the world’s largest tropical forests once grew on the eastern coast of Brazil, in southern Bahia — a forest as diverse and full of life as the Amazon. In the past few decades, the landscape has changed drastically. Where tropical forest once grew, there are now endless fields of eucalyptus trees, a foreign species that has taken over all other life around it. The quickly growing eucalyptus is used in the cellulose industry, mostly as raw material for toilet paper.

MATA is a topical documentary film about the impacts of industrial land use: it is about climate change and the attempts of indigenous people and smallholder farmers to protect the land that has kept them alive. The Portuguese word ‘mata’ translates as both forest and killing.  

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MATA is the first jointly produced film by Fadnes and Nascimento. In addition to the film screening, the installation Killer Forest from the artist duo will also be seen at the Baltic Circle festival, leading the audience deeper into a eucalyptus forest.