News

A plane crashes in the Amazon jungle leaving a sole survivor, a five-year-old child named Rebecca, who is then saved just in time by an Indigenous Iruaté man. Nine years pass, and Rebecca (Helena Zengel) is now widely known as a “miracle” and a faith healer, heavily promoted by her missionary father, Lawrence (Jeremy Xido). As the girl eagerly participates in tent revival sermons, two events occur disrupting the long-established routine. First, a new nurse, Denise (Sabine Timoteo), arrives and suddenly starts questioning the details Rebecca knows about her past. Then, there is the pressing matter of rising tensions between the Iruaté tribe and the loggers destroying their land, and both Lawrence and Rebecca insert themselves into this conflict. Transamazonia, which premiered at the 77th...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

A plane crashes somewhere deep within the Amazon rainforest, screaming down upon the land of Brazil’s (fictional) Iruaté people like a missive from God. By some miracle, a young white girl named Rebecca — later identified as the daughter of a local missionary — has managed to survive the devastation that killed her mother and everyone else aboard the aircraft. Still buckled into her seat after the fuselage exploded around her, Rebecca would have been eaten alive by the ants if not for the tribesman who rescued her from the rubble and carried the girl back to Christian civilization.

That fateful act of kindness will prove to be one of the few truly selfless deeds in Pia Marais’ “Transamazonia,” a potent but emotionally diffuse coming-of-age drama in which everything — even faith, even love — has the potential to be as exploitative as the deforestation that continues to eat away at the soul of the Amazon.

Reboot Studios, the production arm of the acclaimed Jewish arts and culture nonprofit Reboot, founded by Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw’s Righteous Persons Foundation and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, announced Thursday the four recipients of its 2024-25 Creator Fund, TheWrap can reveal exclusively.

The Jewish arts organization — whose mission is to empower “artists, storytellers, and innovators to transform society with inspirational and provocative new Jewish content across theater, television, film, podcasts, music, publishing, and beyond” — will provide financing support for four cross-platform Jewish media productions: “Sangre Sucio/Tainted Blood” from writer/director Jeremy Xido and producer Noam Dromi; “How to Rule the World,” a theatrical documentary from award-winning British filmmaker Tim Samuels; Erev Yalda, a cultural celebration from entrepreneur Rachel Sumekh and food writer Tannaz Sassooni; and AlefBet Audio, a podcast series from Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie.

“Reboot Studios is proud to support this year’s Creator Fund recipients,...

Plunging headlong into the murk of exploitative missionary work and environmentally destructive capitalism, Transamazonia is a film with undeniable import and sociopolitical urgency, which its muddled narrative can’t completely dampen. Pia Marais’s fourth feature centers around American faith healer Lawrence (Jeremy Xido), who preaches the Gospel to an impoverished Brazilian village in the heart of the Amazon, aided by his daughter, Rebecca (Helena Zengel), the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her mother. Their role in the community is troubled when a conflict arises between a local Indigenous tribe and a violent gang in the employ of the logging industry laying waste to their homeland.

Following a striking, wordless sequence in which an infant Rebecca is discovered in a rainforest clearing and carried to the relative safety of a hospital room, where her new status as a global media sensation disrupts a reunion with Lawrence, a...

Pia Marais’ Transamazonia seeks to connect us to its characters and the environment containing them, but we leave the film far more imprinted by the latter. The fourth feature by the South African-born and -raised filmmaker, she aims to create an emotionally involving story, with rooting interests for sympathetic individual and collective groups––here, the indigenous Assurini people of Trocará, Brazil. But it’s really more effective as a mood piece, the thematic clash between empiricism and superstition emanating like gun smoke from the depths of its jungle setting.

Marais is esteemed on the festival circuit but has been less well-served for theatrical distribution; her 2007 feature The Unpolished, which won the top prize at Rotterdam, is one of the more underrated debuts of its decade. A tough and tender memoir of growing up with very bohemian parents, its highly personal look at a challenging, stimulating upbringing is echoed by Transamazonia’s own plot,...

There’s a distant, otherworldly aura to Rebecca Byrne, the teenage protagonist of “Transamazonia,” that is quite befitting of someone who literally dropped from the sky. As a small girl, a plane she was on crashed in the remote depths of the Amazon basin, leaving her the only survivor of the tragedy. Hailed by the media as a miracle child, she has since remained where she fell, carving out a reputation in the rainforest as a Christian faith healer. It’s a testament to Helena Zengel’s arresting, secretive lead performance that we’re never sure if miracles are Rebecca’s blessing or her branding. This central enigma informs the other, manifold ambiguities of Pia Marais’s intriguing environmental fable — in which religious mission work and industrial deforestation both pose threats to Indigenous identity.

Premiering in Locarno’s main competition, with a New York Film Festival slot to come, this...

"We don't trust your God." Agreed - neither do I. An early festival promo trailer has debuted for the indie film titled Transamazonia, that's currently premiering at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland underway this week. This France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil co-production is set in the Amazon rainforest within Brazil. Rebecca, the daughter of a missionary, was declared a "miracle" after she survived a plane crash as a child, deep in the Amazon jungle. Years later, she has become a miracle healer, sustaining their mission thanks to her local fame and power. But when illegal loggers invade the land belonging to the indigenous people they evangelize, her father maneuvers them into the epicenter of this escalating conflict. The film stars Helena Zengel as Rebecca, Jeremy Xido, Joao Vitor Xavante, Pira Assurini, Hama Vieira, and Sabine Timoteo. This looks like a fascinatingly complex thriller, setting up dramatic stakes between two manipulators on opposites sides,...

A major note about this year’s New York Film Festival line-up: 19 of 34 directors have never been featured in the Main Slate. Debuting at Locarno before stopping stateside is Transamazonia, Pia Marais’ first feature since 2013’s Layla Fourie, which is seeking distribution. Ahead of these showings, there’s a first trailer from The Party Film Sales that suggests a work of scale and ambition.

Here’s NYFF’s synopsis: “In the eerie quiet of the vast, verdant Amazon jungle, a young girl stirs to life. Rescued by a member of the local Indigenous tribe, the child, Rebecca, is the only survivor of a plane crash. Years pass, and Rebecca (Helena Zengel) has become something of a local celebrity after her father (Jeremy Xido), an American missionary, has cast the teenager as a faith healer capable of miracles. Just as Rebecca is beginning to have a will of her own, doubting...

The trailer for Pia Marais’ “Transamazonia” has debuted ahead of the film’s world premiere in competition at Locarno Film Festival. “Transamazonia,” which will have its North American premiere at New York Film Festival, is being sold in international territories by The Party Film Sales. WME Independent is handling North American rights.

The film centers on Rebecca, the daughter of missionary Lawrence Byrne. Rebecca was declared a “miracle” after she survived a plane crash as a child, deep in the Amazon Forest. Years later, she has become a miracle healer, sustaining their mission thanks to her growing fame. But when illegal loggers invade the land belonging to the indigenous people they’re evangelizing, Rebecca’s father manoeuvers them into the epicentre of this escalating conflict.

In a statement, Marais said: “In this feverish setting, I wanted to work loosely with elements of suspense and genre. In moments to create an uncanny dream atmosphere.

DC/Dox has unveiled the lineup for its second annual edition, which takes place in Washington, D.C., from June 13-16. The documentary festival will kick things off with “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” the Warner Bros. Discovery film that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

The second edition of the fest includes 51 features and 47 shorts from 17 countries. That’s up from last year’s state of 31 features and 21 shorts from eight countries. This year’s lineup is made of 60% of filmmakers identifying as women or non-binary. Films will screen at venues including Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the Burke Theatre at the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Archives.

“The films on the 2024 slate highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of documentary storytelling today,” says DC/Dox co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney. “From filmmakers around the world, these works recalibrate the past through archival footage, immerse themselves...

The proliferation of billionaires — with trillionaires reportedly soon to come — has raised a lot of questions in world politics. But one question has been around as long as wealth itself: What can an individual actually do with that much money? A new answer arises in “The Bones,” proving that the rich will always break fresh ground in the realm of luxury expenditures. Even for the man or woman who “has everything,” there may still be unfulfilled need for a reconstructed Triceratops skeleton dating from approximately 67,000,000 B.C. Think how it will look in one’s Great Room! That’ll show arrivistes whose trophies are from mere living species.

Yes, there is an actual market for such things, as Jeremy Xido’s documentary feature suggests — though it does not take us into the homes of such collectors, who presumably would rather not advertise their acquisitions. It used to be that dinosaur...

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below) for dinosaur bone trade documentary “The Bones,” which will have its world premiere at Cph:dox as part of the festival’s Science program. The producer is Ina Fichman, Oscar nominated for “Fire of Love.” Dogwoof is handling world sales.

“The Bones,” written and directed by Jeremy Xido (“Death Metal Angola”), is a cinematic exploration of the high-stakes world of dinosaur bone trading, where obsessive collectors compete with museums, scientists, and high-end auction houses to own a piece of the past.

“It’s a story of intrigue, an illicit caper at the collision of science, commerce and a dark colonial legacy,” according to a press statement. “Part international thriller, part meditation on the nature of existence, ‘The Bones’ reveals the hidden world of passionate, globetrotting scientists and fossil dealers battling over the meaning of ‘The Bones’ and our uncertain future.”

The film sees paleontologist Bolor Minjin,...

The Jewish Film Institute has selected six projects for its second cycle of Completion Grants Program, Variety has learned.

Jfi, the Bay Area curatorial voice for Jewish film and media, announced the grants at the virtual awards ceremony for the 41st San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

This year, Jfi has awarded $100,000 in film completion grants, ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, to filmmakers who are expanding and evolving the Jewish story for audiences “everywhere in every genre — narrative, documentary, short, episodic program and web series.”

Recipients include “Remember This,” “1341 Frames of Love and War,” “The Liegnitz Plot,” “Sons of Detroit,” “A Reel War: Shalaal” and “I Will Take Your Shadow.”

Directed by Jeff Hutchens and Derek Goldman, “Remember This” stars David Strathairn as Jan Karski in a true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness.

Ran Tal’s “1341 Frames of Love and War” documentary follows Israel’s celebrated war photographer,...

Jeremy Xido’s “Death Metal Angola” is being considered by many who’ve seen it to be a serious Best Documentary contender in the Oscar race this year and it’s not hard to see why. Xido’s doc – which examines the death metal subculture that emerged from the war-torn streets of Angola, a republic that is still reeling and rebuilding after a civil war that lasted twenty-seven years – is ultimately an affirming testament to the power of an art form that will ultimately unite and solidify a fractured culture. Given that the art form in question is death metal – that allegedly “dangerous” kind of hard-rock music that Joe Lieberman warned us about, the kind characterized by chugging, down-tuned guitars, Cookie Monster vocals and assaultive drums that sound like aural air raids – it’s a curious prospect, but it turns out to be an immensely rewarding one. “Death Metal Angola” is deeply involving and,...

Nearly all art is reactionary, and death metal is no different. The extreme nature of this usually apolitical subgenre (whose most influential outposts are Tampa, Florida, and Gothenburg, Sweden) takes on new meanings in Death Metal Angola, Jeremy Xido's documentary charting the rise of heavy music in the wake of that south African nation's decades-long civil war. For many of the budding musicians interviewed here, the genre's aggressive qualities aren't just a coping mechanism, but also a means of recontextualizing their personal and national traumas — stories of lost loved ones are the norm, not least because an orphanage run by a saint of a woman named Sonia Ferreira hosts much of the footage. "I think the beats in death and black metal are derived from Af...

Starting today, The Vladar Company - an independent motion picture and entertainment studio - opens the critically acclaimed feature documentary "Death Metal Angola," from director Jeremy Xido ("The Machinist"), produced by Joseph Castelo ("The War Within"), with Vlad Yudin and Edwin Mejia exec producing. The film is now in a limited theatrical release in New York & Los Angeles, and will be available on iTunes on November 21. The film first caught our attention when it screened at Doc NYC - New York’s premier documentary festival - in 2013. The short version of the story, goes... Following nearly 40 years of unrelenting war,...

The Vladar Company - an independent motion picture and entertainment studio - has acquired (from production companies Coalition Films and Cabula6) release rights to the critically acclaimed feature documentary "Death Metal Angola," from director Jeremy Xido ("The Machinist"), produced by Joseph Castelo ("The War Within"), with Vlad Yudin and Edwin Mejia exec producing. The company will release the film in a limited theatrical release on November 7, 2014, in New York & Los Angeles. The film first caught our attention when it screened at Doc NYC - New York’s premier documentary festival - in 2013. The short version of the...

The Vladar Company - an independent motion picture and entertainment studio - has acquired (from production companies Coalition Films and Cabula6) release rights to the critically acclaimed feature documentary "Death Metal Angola," from director Jeremy Xido ("The Machinist"), produced by Joseph Castelo ("The War Within"). The company will release the film in a limited theatrical release this fall in New York & Los Angeles. The film first caught our attention when it screened at Doc NYC - New York’s premier documentary festival - in 2013. The short story, goes... Following nearly 40 years of unrelenting war, peace and...

The following is a guest post from Jeremy Xido, the director of Death Metal Angola, which screens at Doc NYC on November 16. A few years ago, I was traveling through Angola researching a film about a railway when I stopped at the only cafe in Huambo, the country’s bombed-out second city, that served a decent cup of coffee. A young man with tiny dreadlocks in a blue button-down Oxford shirt waved me over. I sat with him for a while and chatted. We talked about what I was doing there and I asked him about himself. He said he […]...

The following is a guest post from Jeremy Xido, the director of Death Metal Angola, which screens at Doc NYC on November 16. A few years ago, I was traveling through Angola researching a film about a railway when I stopped at the only cafe in Huambo, the country’s bombed-out second city, that served a decent cup of coffee. A young man with tiny dreadlocks in a blue button-down Oxford shirt waved me over. I sat with him for a while and chatted. We talked about what I was doing there and I asked him about himself. He said he […]...

New Yorkers are in for a profound experience from director Jeremy Xido, whose feature documentary, Death Metal Angola, will screen at Doc NYC, New York’s premier documentary festival, which returns for its 4th year, from November 14-21, to the IFC Center in Greenwich Village and Chelsea’s Sva Theatre.It's one of 72 feature-length films selected for this year's Doc NYC event. The short story, goes... Following nearly 40 years of unrelenting war, peace and reconstruction are slowly arriving to Angola. Damaged first by the war for independence from Portugal, Angola was then ripped apart by a devastating civil war that orphaned...

Perusing the Dubai programme deciding what to see when your knowledge of Arab and African cinema is on the rudimentary side can generate a fog of confusion, so a film titled "Death Metal Angola" stands out like a screaming neon sign. Jeremy Xido, who directed this absorbing, beautifully shot documentary, which had its world premiere in Dubai, is a Detroit-born multi-talent (he has a European-based contemporary dance company and acted in "The Machinist") and was in Angola researching another documentary about a Chinese railroad when he discovered that the war-torn nation has a flourishing death-metal scene. An ex-Portuguese colony, Angola was wracked by civil war for nearly four decades (until the Us, China and Russia stepped up to end the conflict, lured by the country's abundant natural resources); its people are haunted and scarred by their history; and the angry aggression of death metal offers an ideal outlet for expressing that angst.

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo's Jessica Oreck, Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)'s Jason Kohn and The Order of Myths/Be Here to Love Me's Margaret Brown are among the filmmakers of thirteen projects in all to receive some serious coin from the Cinereach folks -- indie and doc filmmaker staples such as Matt Wolf, Liza Johnson, Dee Rees, Ramin Bahrani, Alistair Banks Griffin and Maryam Keshavarz have all benefitted from this organization's help. Here are the Winter 2011 grant recipients include two fiction, ten nonfiction and one hybrid works-in-progress of which we'll be keeping a close eye out for at this year's Tiff, Doc Fests and next year's Sundance: The Angola ProjectDir. Jeremy Xido | Angola | Nonfiction | In Research & DevelopmentA post-colonial western-meets-road film about the fevered reconstruction of the Benguela Transcontinental Railway and the African and Chinese lives that are intertwined because of it. Diamond, Silver & GoldDir. Jason Kohn | USA | Nonfiction...