Environmentalist and Executive Producer Dax Dasilva Celebrates World Premiere of YANUNI at the 2025 Tribeca Festival
Directed by and executive produced by Dax Dasilva–with Leonardo DiCaprio, Anita Ladkani, and Juma Xipaia serving as producers–YANUNI premiered to a standing ovation at the 2025 Tribeca Festival Closing Night Gala, tracing Xipaia's powerful fight to protect her Amazon homeland.
MONTREAL, June 18, 2025 /CNW/ - Global environmentalist, Lightspeed Commerce Inc. Founder and CEO, and Emmy award-winning executive producer, Dax Dasilva celebrates the world premiere of YANUNI - which debuted as the Closing Night Gala at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on June 14. Executive produced by Dasilva, Founder of environmental non-profit Age of Union, and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Richard Ladkani, alongside producers Leonardo DiCaprio, Anita Ladkani and Juma Xipaia herself, among others, YANUNI chronicles the extraordinary rise of Juma Xipaia, a fearless Indigenous warrior and the first female chief of her people in the Middle Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon, and her fight for environmental justice and sovereignty of her ancestral territory.
The film follows Juma's journey from her remote village in the Amazon to becoming Brazil's first Secretary of Indigenous Rights, a path marked by extraordinary resilience as she survived six assassination attempts while defending her territory from illegal mining, logging, and land grabs. Set against the backdrop of a dramatically escalating environmental crisis, the film unfolds as Brazil grapples with the extractive industry and threats to Indigenous lands. YANUNI not only offers an intimate portrait of Juma Xipaia, an environmental warrior, mother and chief, but also illustrates a searing indictment of extractive industries, political inaction, and systemic neglect that continue to endanger the Amazon and the people who call it home.
Speaking to the global significance of the Amazon and Juma's leadership, Leonardo DiCaprio, producer of YANUNI, said during his introduction speech at the festival, "Juma's resilience and clarity in this film underscore the urgency of protecting the Amazon. As a producer, I'm honoured to help bring this story to the world—a story we can no longer ignore. The Amazon may feel distant, but its fate is deeply tied to us here at home. It regulates our climate, holds more biodiversity than anywhere on Earth, and sustains life far beyond its borders. Yet it survives only because of people like Juma, who refuse to let it disappear."
" YANUNI is a powerful reminder of how film can illuminate the courage of those fighting on the frontlines of environmental justice," says Dax Dasilva, Executive Producer of YANUNI and Founder of Age of Union. "Juma's bravery and unwavering commitment to protecting her people and the forest embody the kind of leadership the world needs. At Age of Union, we believe in storytelling to elevate voices like Juma's to honour their courage, share their knowledge, and inspire urgent action to safeguard our collective future. We are honoured to have played a part in this film and to have celebrated its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival."
Dasilva, who joined the project from its earliest stages as Executive Producer, has been a vocal supporter of Indigenous-led conservation movements through his non-profit organization Age of Union. This collaboration with Xipaia extends well beyond the screen.
In December 2024, Age of Union announced a USD $287,000 investment to Juma Institute, founded by Juma Xipaia, to protect Indigenous heritage, territory, and knowledge. The central objective of the Age of Union partnership with Juma Institute is to value, rescue and share the ancestral knowledge rooted in the Xipaya Indigenous territory, promoting the empowerment of a new generation of young people through environmental and cultural education activities over an initial period of two years.
As of May 2025, Juma Institute broke ground on a traditional medicine centre in the Kaarimã village, which will serve as the cultural centre to host education activities, traditional medicine workshops, community events, and gatherings for Indigenous communities. It will also host the new Amazon chapter of Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots youth program. Slated to open by Fall 2025, the centre is vital to Juma Institute's vision to honour, revive, and share ancestral knowledge deeply rooted in the territory.
The film and partnership mark a continuation of Dasilva's work in the Amazon. In October 2023, following his appointment to The Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation's Council for Hope, Dasilva journeyed with Dr. Jane Goodall into the Amazon Forest to visit with Juma Xipaia. This initial introduction has grown into today's partnership focused on strengthening the Juma Institute institutionally to guarantee future effectiveness and improvement of projects aimed to value, retrieve and share ancestral knowledge rooted in the territory.
YANUNI is produced by Malaika Pictures in association with Appian Way, Nia Tero, Age of Union, Tellux Film and the support of the Austrian Film Institute. It is directed by Richard Ladkani and produced by Juma Xipaia, Anita Ladkani and Leonardo DiCaprio, and executive produced by Dax Dasilva, Joanna Natasegara, Laura Nix, Eric Terena, Martin Choroba and Philipp Schall.
Follow updates via Tribeca Film website and social media here.
About Age of Union:
Age of Union is a non-profit organization committed to uniting humanity with nature. It supports and makes visible a global community of changemakers working on the ground to protect the planet's threatened species and ecosystems. Launched in October 2021 by tech leader and environmental activist Dax Dasilva in Montreal, Canada, Age of Union seeks to ignite a flame within every person through conservation efforts, film, and immersive experiences that hope to solve critical environmental challenges around the world and inspire high-impact change by showing the positive impact that every individual can make.
About Juma Institute
Juma Institute was created in October 2020 by the Indigenous leader Juma Xipaia. It is a non-profit organization focused on the protection of the forest, human rights, heritage, intellectual property and territories of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities within the Brazilian Amazon. Juma Institute's mission is to preserve the Amazon Forest through strengthening the Indigenous worldview.
For more information, please visit: institutojuma.org
On social media: Instagram, LinkedIn
About Malaika Pictures
Malaika Pictures is an Austrian production company dedicated to storytelling that drives awareness and change. Specializing in powerful narratives that explore urgent environmental and social issues, it has produced award-winning films recognized at major international festivals.
Recent projects include The Ivory Game and Sea of Shadows —both executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio—as well as Arctic Ascent, a Disney+ Original series featuring climber Alex Honnold. From uncovering environmental crimes in the Amazon to portraying stories of hope and resilience, Malaika Pictures creates films with meaningful global impact.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
8 hours ago
- Toronto Star
‘Feeling that good energy': Vibrant powwow dancers delight Toronto crowd at Indigenous Peoples Day celebration
As the women and girls danced in a circle along to drums and singing, the silver and gold metal cones on their colourful dresses clinked together with each step. 'Her dress is so pretty,' said an onlooker in the crowd as the Indigenous dancers, including preschool aged kids and grandmothers, performed the traditional jingle dance.
CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
CTV National News: Keeping Indigenous culture alive through art
Watch Allison Bamford speaks with a couple of Indigenous artists to learn how they're reclaiming their culture.
Winnipeg Free Press
14 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
First Nations celebrate culture, resiliency
The scent of tobacco swept through The Forks Saturday morning as elders kicked off National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations with traditional water and pipe ceremonies. Performers from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit backgrounds entertained hundreds of community members who gathered at the historic site with music and dance, while elders shared teachings of their culture's history and traditions. Among the artists shedding light on Indigenous music was Kieran Maytwayashing, a fiddler (violin) player from the Lake Manitoba First Nation and the Long Plain First Nation. SPENCER COLBY / THE CANADIAN PRESS A heart shape cutout with the words 'Every Child Matters' is seen in a flower bed following a National Indigenous People's Day with youth from Future Paths Network, a grassroot organization dedicated to supporting youth who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) in their transition out of the foster care system at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Saturday, June 21, 2025. Maytwayashing, who's played the fiddle for more than three years now, said he does it to honour the late Clifford Maytwayashing, another violin player from his community. 'I've always heard it. It's what I listened to all the time growing up, and he was the one who inspired me,' he said. 'I try to keep on his legacy by playing those tunes he played, and it's just been going ever since.' Maytwayashing received a phone call a few weeks ago from the organizer of The Forks event, Kíwétinohk Consulting — an organization serving individuals, organizations, and communities across northern Manitoba — asking if he wanted to perform on Indigenous Peoples Day because they had liked his music on social media. He said he was thrilled by the invitation. 'It's important that more people come to know more about us and what we do. It's normal in our communities, but I'm glad to see this stuff happening here in Winnipeg as well to show other people what the culture is like and experience it for themselves,' said Maytwayashing. He also uses music as a tool to comfort others, such as those currently being displaced from their homes due to the wildfires north of Manitoba. He plans to visit the soccer complex evacuation centre on Leila Avenue and perform for the evacuees staying there. Joanne Nimik, 53, from Swan Lake, came to The Forks to enjoy the live music as well as to witness Indigenous Peoples' resiliency. 'It's beautiful that in spite of things that Indigenous people have been through, time and time again, we rise up,' Nimik said. 'We get up, dust ourselves off, and we keep going. That speaks to the spirit inside all of us.' Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Nimik is Ojibwe and an intergenerational residential school survivor. She said it's refreshing to see society coming together and bringing some cohesiveness, as opposed to the division her mother had experienced in the past. 'It's been a hard road for a lot of folks to even come to attend events like this. To go learn about their history and their culture and their traditions and their language and what they want to learn, what they need to learn,' she said. 'We're starting to make a change, and we have to, but we have to rely on each and every one of us to make that change.' Nimik works closely with Indigenous communities through her service with Bear Clan Patrol. She said despite trying times with the wildfires, it's important to remember there is always a community to help each other out. 'I really hope and pray that a lot of people are coming together and supporting each other and rebuilding on hope, trust, love, courage, and faith. Rise from the ashes, so to speak,' she said.
