In the Land of Palm Oil is a feature documentary that focuses on the casualties, both human and environmental, of palm oil exploitation in Indonesia. The film fuses first-hand accounts of villagers -- victims of land-grabbing by large global corporations who pay off local and national officials -- and vérité observations of young Dayak activists who are trying to expose the brutal human rights violations. The narrative thread of the film centers on Emmanuela Shinta, a rising Dayak activist who sees video and social media exposure as the key to holding her government to account. Acting as an eyewitness to both the civil rights abuses and the environmental degradation, Shinta and her team visit Dayak villagers to record their experiences and ride along with firefighting teams during the dry seasons to expose the tragic consequences of the modern-day palm oil empire in her home province of Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo).

Denise Dragiewicz directs films about the ambitions and challenges of rainforest conservation efforts. Her most recent project, In the Land of Palm Oil(2024), follows aspiring Dayak journalist, Emmanuela Shinta, as she fights for environmental justice in her homeland of Indonesian Borneo amid the massive palm oil expansion in the region. In addition to two other recent films about deforestation in Indonesia, The Burning of Borneo's Peat Swamp Forest (2017) and Fire Beneath Her(2024), she has also directed films in Mozambique (Ndzou Camp 2014), Madagascar (Andasibe 2016), and Ecuador (Chocolate in the Jungle 2015) about the plight of conservation activities in natural areas that are struggling to survive.