Expelled from Paradise
- Directed & Produced by: Nicolas Muñoz
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- Updated: September 24, 2026
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Logline
In a dying Amazon where indigenous leaders waver between resistance and surrender, the children see a different fight. For them, this is not yet a stolen future—it is a battle against monsters and demons. Expelled from Paradise follows their journey to navigate a destiny the adults can no longer control.
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Participants
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Ruth Alipaz Cuqui
Collaborator
Participant
Ruth Alipaz Cuqui
Collaborator
Ruth Alipaz Cuqui is a prominent Uchupiamona Indigenous leader from Bolivia and the head of the National Coordinator for the Defense of Indigenous Territories and Protected Areas (Contiocap).Her dedicated struggle has earned her international recognition; in 2024, she was selected by France 24 as one of the ten most outstanding Latin American women for her defense of the environment and human rights.Alipaz has dedicated her life to denouncing the systematic depredation of the Bolivian Amazon in northern La Paz, focusing on the impact of gold mining, hydroelectric projects, and agricultural expansion. Her testimony has been vital in raising awareness before the United Nations and other bodies about the toxic and differentiated effects of mercury on rivers (such as the Mapiri, whose channel has been destroyed) and the health of communities, particularly women and children.Connection to the Documentary:Ruth was a vital collaborator in the production of the ARTE reportage in 2024, which served as the investigative foundation for Exit from Paradise. Her leadership not only provided safe and secure access to communities affected by mercury contamination, but her vision ensures the documentary reflects the urgency of the struggle and the need for concrete tools for local communities. Her participation is essential for the film's impact strategy.
Team
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Nicolas Muñoz
Director & Producer
Team
Nicolas Muñoz
Director & Producer
Nicolás Muñoz Documentary Filmmaker & DOP | Buenos Aires, Argentina At age eleven, Nico Muñoz transformed his childhood bedroom in Argentina into a makeshift nature reserve: eleven fish tanks, two aquatic turtles, and walls plastered with National Geographic pages plundered from his mother’s prized collection. But his world truly cracked open the day he unearthed a bootleg cassette of Roger Payne’s whale songs. To Nico, those haunting underwater voices felt like pure magic—sonic contraband in the 1980s. Yet, when he proudly hit play for his friends and family, they completely tuned out. This wasn't just a childhood disappointment; it was his first real heartbreak as a storyteller. In that bedroom, Nico learned a defining lesson: even the most vital truths are swallowed by apathy if you don't know how to make people listen. That early frustration became the driving engine of his entire career. Determined to master the craft of capturing reality, Nico painted tables by day to pay for film school by night, eventually studying cinematography and documentary filmmaking at ORT (Argentina), INA (France), and Maine Media College (USA). For 13 years, he operated on the frontlines as a visual journalist for the Associated Press (APTN), covering breaking news across Latin America. But in 2014, he made a bold pivot: he traded the fleeting adrenaline of the news cycle for the immersive depth of auteur documentary filmmaking, collaborating with global networks like ARTE, Al Jazeera, NBC, NOWNESS, and Global Witness. Today, as an Official Sony Alpha Partner and a Banff award-winning director, Nico seamlessly blends the raw, split-second reflexes of a frontline reporter with the cinematic beauty of an artist. His work explores the intersections of social justice, environmental crisis, and human resilience—always searching for the voices being ignored to turn them into stories that are impossible to turn away from. Though he no longer listens to that childhood cassette, those whale songs still echo deep inside him—a permanent reminder of the curious child he was, and the filmmaker he continues to be. -
Eugenio Osagie
Local Producer
Team
Eugenio Osagie
Local Producer
Founder of the American Language Fund and a producer with over 10 years of experience in environmental and social issues, plays a key role. He has secured access to affected populations and aligned with local leaders, who are ready to contribute both on and off camera.With the support of FUNAI (National Indigenous People Foundation), Brazil’s agency for protecting Indigenous interests and culture, we are addressing the crisis in Rondônia, where communities face water scarcity and mercury contamination. Eugenio’s team, experts in remote areas, is securing permits. They also make the local production for The Territory, an Emmy-winning documentary.Moreover, his NGO in South America is working directly with the Sirionó people. -
Jean Garner
Executive Producer
Team
Jean Garner
Executive Producer
Jean Garner is an Academy Award-nominated Executive Producer, Commissioning Editor, and seasoned journalist with a distinguished career spanning over three decades in high-stakes international media. A winner of a Peabody Award, two International Emmys, and a Murrow Award, she brings world-class editorial oversight and industry connectivity to the project.Jean’s reputation as a champion of independent documentary film was cemented during her decade-long tenure at Al Jazeera English, where she served as the Senior Executive Producer for the network’s flagship observational documentary strand, Witness. Based in Washington D.C. and Doha, she oversaw the commissioning, acquisition, and production of over 400 documentaries.Her leadership extends to hard news and complex logistical operations. From 2016 to 2023, Jean served as Senior Executive Producer for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Prague. There, she played a pivotal role in launching Current Time, a 24/7 Russian-language network targeting 300 million viewers, and oversaw editorial standards across 26 news bureaus in Europe and Central Asia. She led the digital transformation of the network, launching 17 daily news programs designed for social media platforms.Prior to her documentary work, Jean was a Producer for ABC News’ “Nightline” with Ted Koppel, where she covered defining global events including the 9/11 attacks.In 2003, she was embedded with U.S. forces during the invasion of Iraq, an experience that honed her expertise in managing production safety in hostile environments.Her credits as Executive Producer include Chau, Beyond the Lines (2016 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short), the Emmy-winning Witness series, and Srebrenica: A Witness to Destruction. She holds a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University. -
Juliette Igier
Field Producer
Team
Juliette Igier
Field Producer
Juliette Igier is a seasoned documentary filmmaker and senior journalist with over 15 years of experience bridging European editorial standards with the complex realities of Latin America. Formerly a Chief Editor at France 24 in Paris, she has spent the last decade based in the Southern Cone, producing high-impact investigative reports for ARTE, France Télévisions, and M6 on environmental and social conflicts.Her partnership with the director is built on a foundation of shared risk and deep trust. Juliette has been pivotal in the development of Exit from Paradise, having co-led two previous extensive expeditions into the Bolivian Amazon. Her investigative work on illegal gold mining and mercury contamination has given her a profound understanding of the geopolitical and ecological stakes, as well as an established network of contacts among local leaders, miners, and government officials.For this production, Juliette serves as the critical link between the creative vision and the volatile reality of the terrain. She oversees the project’s most delicate logistical challenge: the "Kids’ Units." She is responsible for the ethical workflow of the participatory cinema element, managing the distribution of cameras to the children and supervising the ingestion and processing of their footage. Her role ensures that the children’s raw, spontaneous perspective is preserved and organized for the post-production pipeline.Juliette’s expertise lies in navigating "soft to hard" ground—making rapid, high-stakes decisions in environments where weather, politics, and safety protocols shift hourly. Her credits include the award-winning Argentina: Radio Crazy (ARTE), Bolivia: The Killer Gold, and extensive coverage of indigenous rights and environmental crises across the region. She brings to the team the rigor of a newsroom manager combined with the empathy of a field documentarian. -
Roldan Jara de Alencar
Field Consultant
Team
Roldan Jara de Alencar
Field Consultant
Roldan Jara de Alencar is a specialist in indigenous rights and territorial protection with over a decade of experience on the frontlines of the Amazon. Since 2017, he has served as an official for FUNAI (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples), the Brazilian government body responsible for indigenous policies.Currently, Roldan holds the critical position of Regional Coordinator for FUNAI in Guajará-Mirim, Rondônia—the precise "Red Zone" where Exit from Paradise is set. In this capacity, he orchestrates field operations for territorial monitoring and protection, navigating the complex conflicts between indigenous communities and illegal extractivist industries. His role involves high-level inter-institutional articulation and the development of governance strategies for threatened territories.Beyond his tactical field experience, Roldan brings rigorous academic and legal expertise to the project. He is a lawyer specializing in Constitutional Law and Cultural Anthropology, and holds a Master’s degree in Governance and Development. His involvement ensures that the production adheres to the strictest ethical and legal protocols required for filming within protected indigenous lands and sensitive border regions.
Budget
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Our Ask
Children are not the future. They are the present.
Why now?
Mercury contamination is not a future threat in the Amazon. It is already entering rivers, food chains, and the lives of children growing up there. And while global attention moves from one crisis to another, this story is becoming easier to ignore.
Expelled from Paradise responds to another urgency: climate fatigue. Rather than delivering another warning, the film places us inside the experience of children trying to understand a world changing around them—using their own cameras, drawings, and imagination to make the invisible visible.
Why Us?
After three years of groundwork, we have built relationships with Indigenous leaders, local authorities, and miners in areas where access is extremely difficult. We already hold some of the film’s hardest footage and, more importantly, the trust required to continue.
What We Need
We are seeking production and finishing financing, co-production partners, and international distribution to complete filming in Bolivia and Brazil.
The children at the heart of this film are not waiting for the consequences of this crisis. They are already living them.
We are seeking:
- Funding,
- Co-Production Partners,
- International Co-Production
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