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Can Social Storytelling Help Save the Amazon Forest?
'O Voto' tells a stark tale of global survival
By 2070, the Amazon could be pushed to collapse, driven by climate shifts and unchecked consumerism. Change is necessary.
The indigenous creator Maíra Gomez, known as Cunhaporanga, isn’t going to hope for the best. Instead, she is posting from 2070 on her Instagram account and sharing simple, actionable tips with her thousands of followers. She urges us to act now in order to avert this future. Her content series is narrated by an aged version of the creator and grounded in projections by Instituto Oya.
By connecting large-scale catastrophic consequences to everyday behaviors, the series empowers viewers to adopt simple but meaningful changes in their daily lives. The initiative positions individual responsibility and collective action as the ultimate tools to prevent this dark vision from becoming a reality.
A powerful long-form video—”O Voto” (“The Vow”)—was released on her feed explaining the project. In it, Cunhaporanga shares a powerful message. She refuses to look back wishing she had done more. With a massive global platform, she is determined to use her creativity to inspire millions to take action. For her, a better future isn’t just a wish. It’s a vow.
The film is quiet, human, gentle yet ruthless in its truth, unflinching in its call to act. Cunhaporanga tells us: “I will look our enemy in the face and ask for help. Would you help us?” And then it lands. The enemy is us. Her future, the Amazon’s future, hangs on what we do next. We are not bystanders. We are the cause, or we become the cure. Whatever happens next is on us.
Landia shot the campaign in the Amazon and it was directed by Olivia Lang.
The scenes were shot on a smartphone, understated, unforced. Not over-directed. Minimal props. Even the idea of the future avoids cliché and it’s never heavy-handed, almost the opposite.
What we see are traces of it: Old, makeshift machinery that feels strangely futuristic, yet already obsolete by 2070. The kind of machinery the Amazon is left with. Cunhaporanga appears aged throughout, post-production by Mathematic.
In contrast, the long form is carefully composed to hold a tension between delicacy and harsh reality. Lush, cinematic imagery is set against raw, blunt scenes of destruction, most of it shot on location. This tension builds and releases throughout, holding our attention from start to finish.
