After twenty years of devastating pollution by oil companies in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, a new kind of oil company - Dallas based MAXUS - promises to be the first company that will protect the rainforest and respect the people who live there. The film tells the story of how MAXUS set out to convince the Huaorani - known as the fiercest tribe in the Amazon - to allow drilling on their land. It is a story which starts in 1957 with the Huaorani massacre of five American missionaries, moving through the evangelization of part of the tribe by Rachel Saint, pollution of Huaorani lands by Texaco and Shell and manipulation and buying off of Huaorani leaders by MAXUS. Filmed over two years, “Trinkets and Beads” reveals the funny, heartbreaking and thrilling story of the battle waged by a small band of Amazonian warriors to preserve their way of life.

For more information and to purchase the film, click here.

Learn more about the struggle of the Huaorani people and their modern day advocacy work through the formation of the political action group - Organization of the Huaorani Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon (ONHAE).

Read the Rainforest Action Network's article "Drilling to the Ends of the Earth," to learn more about the devastating effects of oil exploration on the rainforest and local indigenous peoples.  Go to their Action Center to find out how you can help!