The Last

Los Últimos • Paraguay’s official selection for this year’s Academy Awards for Best International Feature couldn’t be more timely, especially after the wildfires that roared through a significant area of Los Angeles. For decades, German entomologist Ulf Drechsel and Paraguayan ornithologist Jota Escobar have been studying the forests of Paraguay while witnessing relentless deforestation and manmade wildfires. Peña Escobar proposes that they film the threatened forests of Chovoreca, far up into the Chaco ecosystem, on the border with Bolivia. Along the way, this unlikely trio talk about the state of the region and the planet; once they reach Chovoreca, they find an immense wildfire sweeping through the area.