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Iracema, uma transa amazônica

Iracema
Forum Special 2025
© Archive Jorge Bodanzky IMS
Indigenous teenager Iracema has left her family and is barely surviving by working as a prostitute in the city of Belém do Pará. She meets Tião Brasil Grande, an unscrupulous truck driver with a big mouth who is an apologist for the Brazilian economic miracle and military dictatorship. A small timer nonetheless, he is passing along the newly constructed Trans-Amazonian Highway and making a living from illegal hardwood. Initially, he takes Iracema with him, before then leaving her to her brutal fate. This Cinema Novo highlight is a documentary/fiction hybrid road movie whose narrative unfolds in tandem with the devastation wrought by neocolonial-tinged extractivist capitalism. The film was made in an area of the Amazonas which was a national security zone under strict military control at the time. Iracema is a piercing guerilla trip through a reality that still exists to this day: expulsion, forest fires, deforestation, slavery and child prostitution. The ones to suffer most here were and are the Indigenous population, girls and women. World premiere of the restored version by Montanha Russa Cinematográfica.
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by Jorge Bodanzky (Director), Orlando Senna (Director, Screenplay)
with Edna de Cássia, Paulo César Pereio, Lúcio dos Santos, Conceição Senna, Elma Martins, Orlando Senna Brazil / Federal Republic of Germany 1975 Portuguese 96' Colour World premiere of the digitally restored version

With

  • Edna de Cássia
  • Paulo César Pereio
  • Lúcio dos Santos
  • Conceição Senna
  • Elma Martins
  • Orlando Senna

Crew

Directors Jorge Bodanzky, Orlando Senna
Screenplay Orlando Senna
Cinematography Jorge Bodanzky
Editing Eva Grundmann, Jorge Bodanzky
Music Jorge Bodanzky
Sound Design Achim Tappen
Production Design Wolf Gauer, Achim Tappen, Malu Bodanzky
Producers Wolf Gauer, Jorge Bodanzky

Produced by

ZDF

World Sales

Gullane+

Additional information

Restored by Montanha Russa Cinematográfica, https://www.montanharussa.com.br/

Photos

Jorge Bodanzky

© Jorge Bodanzky

Jorge Bodanzky was born in 1942 in Brazil and studied at the Institut für Filmgestaltung at the HfG Ulm in Germany. Starting as a magazine photographer, he debuted in cinema in 1971 as a cinematographer and director. Iracema (1975) launched his series of Amazon-focused films, which he continues to this day. He has directed over 60 features.

Filmography (selection)

1971 Caminhos de Valderez (Paths of Valderez); co-directed by Hermano Penna 1975 Iracema; co-directed by Orlando Senna 1973 Gitirana; co-directed by Orlando Senna 1979 Jari 1980 O Terceiro Milênio (The Third Millenium) 2020 Utopia/Distopia 2024 As cores e amores de Lore (The Colors and Lovers of Lore)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025

Orlando Senna

© Alice de Andrade

Orlando Senna was born in 1940 in Bahia in Brazil and has directed and written over 30 films. Originally a journalist, he has directed documentaries, contributed to theatre, headed the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV in Havana, Cuba, the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico, and the Brazilian public broadcasting company EBC. He also served as Brazil’s Audio-Visual Secretary.

Filmography

1969 A construção da morte (The Construction of Death) 1975 Iracema; co-directed by Jorge Bodanzky 1976 Gitirana; co-directed by Jorge Bodanzky 1977 Diamante bruto 1987 Brascuba; co-directed Santiago Álvarez 2018 2018: A Idade da Água 2020 Longe do Paraís (Far from Paradise)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025