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Huni Kuin Tribe: “Nature Is Not For Sale”

Huni Kuin tribe of the Amazon collaborate with Yassa Khan and SAGE Foundation. Music Press Asia

Director Yassa Khan worked with SAGE Foundation to create a film with the voices of the Amazon, the Huni Kuin tribe, who have seen and felt seismic change before any of us. They are here with a warning and a plea: Nature Is Not For Sale.

“This is our film, HOPE DIEST LAST. This #COP26, we ask you to share the Huni Kuin’s message and tag the leaders and changemakers who need to see it too.”

With the world’s largest rainforest ecosystem, the Amazon Rainforest spans 9 countries and is home to iconic species like the Jaguar, Macaw, Amazon River Dolphin, Black Spider Monkey, and Poison Dart Frog. Unfortunately, due to logging, unsustainable agriculture, and forest fires, it’s also a high-risk zone for deforestation and degradation.

Without the Amazon, our planet cannot survive. It’s our lungs and our lifeblood, and yet we choose to destroy it. In the past 30 years, we’ve driven 10,000 species to extinction, and lost 15% of the forest. The Huni Kuin tribe fear they are next. But despite all of this they are still full of joy and hope.

Film Credits:
Yassa Khan (Director)
Naza Alakija (Producer)
Robin Mellor (Director of Photography)
Hugo Vaughan-Hughes (Editor)
Charlie Smith (Composer)

Film director Yassa Khan, born in Wales to his Welsh mother and Pakistani father, started his career as a Graphic Designer working for various fashion brands including YSL, McQ, and the Gucci Group.

He then ventured into Advertising working in London, NY, LA and Ecuador for several high-profile clients and agencies. In November of last year, Yassa decided to quit his job as Head of Art to pursue his passion for Film. His first short film COSMOTO, a documentary about the front line Zambian anti-poaching officers received acclaim on the Film Awards Circuit.

Yassa has managed to use his past skills in Design, Fashion and Advertising to coin a dramatic and graphic style that can lean both into a heartfelt narrative and kaleidoscopic visual world. He also has a passion for Dante’s Inferno and reviving both its brutal and sexual nature into a contemporary and visually iconic style.

He now holds the position of Director at Camp Productions; a multidisciplinary production company for the underrepresented. It was set up by two industry outsiders who want to nurture the next generation of directors, photographers and creatives in an ethical, democratic and supportive way. Click here to view the guiding principles they ask from their collaborators.

[One Tree Planted project at Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia.]

Join Yassa Khan, SAGE Foundation in planting trees in the Amazon with its partner, One Tree Planted, so we can replenish some of what we’ve lost. This tree-planting project will help protect the Amazon’s biodiverse primary forests and restore degraded land.

One Tree Planted has recently partnered with non-profit organisation Friends of the National Park (@fnpf.id) in Indonesia to begin planting ten million trees surrounding the area of Tanjung Puting National Park located in Central Kalimantan.

At the time of writing this article, One Tree Planted has already raised $7,077. Donate here.

[SAGE Foundation works with the Huni Kuin tribe to save the Amazon]

SAGE Foundation (@sage.foundation) is a non-profit organisation, which accelerates progress through campaigns that influence global leaders to create a better tomorrow. They also continue to make progress in empowering grassroots movements, which elevate women and girls, and lead communities towards an environmentally resilient future.

Watch the film here.

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