Amazonas, Maior Rio do Mundo

The travelogue The Wonders of the Amazon (1918) is a key film for the history of South American documentary film, but also a colonial testimony that indirectly speaks about what it conceals. At the same time, it is a film that was considered lost until only recently. Curator Jay Weissberg identified it during his research visit to the National Film Archive, and Cinemateca Brasileira, among others, was instrumental in confirming the extraordinary finding. This world-renowned institution is currently emerging from the near-perfect liquidation sought by the previous Bolsonaro administration. This is why it is necessary for this film to be symbolically returned to its country of origin and for Cinemateca Brasileira to undertake its further screening, which will certainly be accompanied by the necessary contextualisation and critical reading. (Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival)