James Cameron plans to haul his 3D camera  into the jungles of Brazil as his next project as director. This may surprise some of you because, of late, there have been various reports of Avatar 2. Alas! Cameron is sticking close to Earth to take a look at and help the indigenous people of the Amazon according to Empire Magazine online and Folha de Sao Paula newspaper.

Cameron hopes to focus his 3D camera on the plight of the Xikrin-Kayapo tribe of Brazil. The elders have invited him to meet and discuss a proposed dam being built on the Xingu River. Rightly so, the natives fear a flooding of 500 square kilometers, displacing 16,000 people. The Brazilian government disclaims such affects, saying they have spent millions to reduce such an impact. “When I was asked to help the Brazilian Indians, who were desperate, I could not turn away.”

Already, Cameron shot some footage (not in 3D), which will be included as a short film attached to the fully loaded Avatar DVD set coming out this Christmas.

But that is not all. Cameron has his sights set on going back to Brazil with his 3D camera and documenting the natives’ lives and efforts. Their plight parallels that of Cameron’s blockbuster: the Na’Vi people who wage a bloody fight against strip-miners from Earth to save their harmonious planet Pandora. “I want to take a 3D camera to film how they live, their culture.”

There is no word on what Cameron will do with the footage, but I suspect a documentary worth seeing.