Yasuni Man is a documentary feature about the Yasuni Biosphere of Amazonian Ecuador, the world’s most biodiverse forest, and the Waorani, an indigenous Amazonian tribe plagued by exploitation, deception and murder. It’s a real-life Avatar story: once under siege by missionaries seeking to civilize them, the Waorani now battle industry operatives and their own government in a fight to survive. In 2016, Yasuni now hangs on the edge of collapse. Together with his native friend Otobo, Killackey embarks on a mission traveling over 1,000 miles by boat and aided by a team of scientists, their research supporting the claim that Yasuni is truly mega-diverse. However, as oil companies encroach and colonization, deforestation, illegal logging, illegal bush markets, over-hunting, oil spills, disease and violations of human rights run rampant, the Waorani struggle to assimilate and their forest Eden is destroyed, all for the oil that lies beneath Yasuni.
Written, directed and produced by Ryan Patrick Killackey.