New Documentary “When Waterfalls Die” Chronicles Shuar Arutam Fight to Save Ecuadorian Amazon from Open-Pit Copper Mining

Directed by award-winning journalist Brandi Morin, the film follows the Maikiuants community’s battle against a Canadian mining company’s plans to convert 268 square kilometers of pristine rainforest into industrial mines A powerful new short documentary chronicles the urgent struggle of the Pueblo Shuar Arutam, from the Maikiuants community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, as they fight to protect their ancestral homeland from annihilation by open-pit copper mining.

When Waterfalls Die is directed, written, and hosted by award-winning Cree/Iroquois/French journalist Brandi Morin, co-produced by AlldayEveryDay, and supported by Cultural Survival.

The documentary captures the intimate struggle of the Shuar, who have never been conquered — not by the Incas, not by Spanish conquistadors — as they now face their greatest threat yet. Former Canadian mining company Solaris Resources has secured extraction rights to convert 268 square kilometers (103 square miles) of pristine Amazon territory into open-pit copper mines, threatening one of Earth’s most biodiverse regions and the very existence of an Indigenous people willing to fight to the death to preserve their world.

“We are ready to defend our territory at all costs,” said Maikiuants elected leadership. “Our ancestors protected this land with their blood, and we are prepared to do the same if necessary.”

The film exposes the tension between Ecuador’s constitutional rights of nature and a government that continues to prioritize large-scale resource extraction over Indigenous sovereignty and collective rights.

“This is not just about the Maikiuants,” said Numii Antun Yankur, a Shuar land defender featured in the film. “This is about all Indigenous Peoples facing the same threats. We fight not just for ourselves, but for all who defend the Earth against those who would destroy it for profit.”