This is a long term documentary of Caiçara people on an island off the coast of Brazil. The future of this fishing community is threatened by commercial fishing, the exploration of oil fields and the prospects of a modern lifestyle on the mainland. Moving there is tempting, the price however would be their independence. As descendants of Portuguese immigrants who mingled with local tribes the Caiçaras are probably the truest embodiments of the melting-pot of cultures called Brazil. For centuries they have been living as fishermen and farmers, relying on the knowledge of their ancestors, protected by their secluded lifestyle on the coast and on islands. But their future looks bleak: They find themselves pushed out of their properties by investors that claim building sites at the waterfront and the state that wishes to protect the coastal rainforest as uninhabited landscape. One of the last places where they can live on their own is Ilha dos Buzios, a remote island three hours off the coast of the city São Sebastião in Brazil’s São Paulo state. Since 150 years this island is inhabited by the descendants of two families. Until today they still rely on the ancient method of ring-net-fishing. However, as commercial trawlers illegally intrude into their fishing grounds and a new oil field is explored, their resources are threatened. That leaves the Caiçara’s future uncertain and most of the families are building homes on the mainland in preparation to abandon their rough and demanding albeit independent island-life for an insecure future in the city.
