We Are Guardians: "We have to make it so unbelievably cool and sexy...that we are not supporting big corporations; we are supporting local communities to protect the environment"

In this Earth Day edition of vHopeful Conversations, filmmaker Vanessa Hope sits down with producer Fisher Stevens and co-director Chelsea Greene to discuss We Are Guardians, their urgent and deeply human documentary about Indigenous forest defenders on the frontlines of the Amazon. Chelsea traces the film’s origins to the 2019 Amazon fires and her decision to drop everything to document communities risking their lives to confront illegal loggers, while Fisher reflects on joining the project, helping shape its verité approach, and supporting a multi-year impact campaign grounded in accountability to those same communities. Together they explore how the film braids intimate character stories with Brazilian electoral politics, the economic drivers of deforestation, and the outsized influence of agribusiness giants like Cargill and JBS, all while arguing that “action is the antidote to despair” and inviting listeners to see themselves as guardians too. Get full access to Dream of a Better World at vanessahope.substack.com/subscribe