In the opening shot of Ana Vaz’s feature debut, an intense blue descends upon the sprawling, modernist metropolis of Brasília, which starts spinning out of control as a symphony of wild animal sounds crescendos. It is night in America. A recognition, an alarm, an investigation, a lament…Vaz’s film sounds every one of these notes and then some, within rather subtle boundaries, such as the limited exposure and contrast range of an expired 16mm film stock, along with “day for night” shooting techniques that fabricate a permanent twilight. Through patient and attentive observation, Vaz documents the reduced territory of Brasília’s native animals, losing their habitats to an ever-encroaching human population. Between the sounds of machines, the animal and insect chorus and Guilherme Vaz’s portending composition are the voices of police, veterinarians and animal rescuers answering calls from people who no longer know the wildlife now entering their backyards or running across highways in a city designed for cars. Monkeys, anteaters, foxes, snakes, capybaras, giant otters, owls and other creatures present a growing refugee population, captive and vulnerable. Periodically punctuated by the long, direct gaze of the owl, this film—which also exists as a three-channel gallery installation—invites viewers to not only witness this ominous, delicate dance between wilderness and civilization, but experience it with decolonized eyes.