“Kendjam- Heart of the Amazon” is a video with heart and soul. This T-Motion film tops all my work not just because of the incredible Amazonian species like peacock bass, matrencha, bicuda and wolf fish caught and landed on a fly rod. It’s the isolated location and the sound purpose of this place that outranks every project I’ve completed.
More than 500 miles by plane from Manaus, Brazil, the Kayapo Indigenous Community lives in the Kendjam Village on the banks of the Iriri River, a tributary of the “emerald clear” Xingu River Basin. Located inside the 20 million square miles of Amazon forest, the Mekrangnoti Indigenous Territory is designated an Ecological Reserve and is the most isolated region in the Brazilian Amazon.
I’d been interested in filming the Kendjam project for years, and when the opportunity came up I knew it would be good. Together with Untamed Angling, the Kayapo people are preserving both their cultural legacy and the legacy of their rainforest.
In a time when logging, mining, and politicians have heavy influence on the future of Brazil’s jungles, I think it’s important to take a step closer and look at the people who live in those important contested areas. The Kayapo people, known as warriors and fierce guardians of their homeland, have made a name for themselves- their voice is being heard worldwide.
With this film, I hope to honor their unique cooperation with the fly fishing industry. And as anglers, we all will likely find hope in their plight and their purpose in the Amazon. Thank you first to the Kayapo Indigenous people in the Kendjam Village, the river guides and warriors who shared their culture with me and led my camera into some wild and remote adventures.
Thank you also to Untamed Angling’s Rodrigo Salles and lead guide Raphael Costa, the true conduits of this phenomenal project. And thanks to Orvis for generous support to make these films possible.
Special thanks to the companies that supported this film project…
Contributed By
Todd Moen
Todd’s combined interest in film and fish began as a kid: he explored and filmed the big waters of western Washington and the blue-ribbon trout streams of his birthstate Montana. Years of traveling the far ends of the globe as a professional videographer and burning the midnight oil to design web media, Todd is living his dream with the production of Catch Magazine.
