‘Amazomania’ Reexamines a Decades-Old Film About the First Contact Made With the Korubo Tribe in Brazil and the “White Man’s Gaze”

Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment A hazardous expedition to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, filmed in 1996, becomes a cultural and moral minefield in Amazomania , a thought-provoking documentary in which Swedish director Nathan Grossman ( I Am Greta , Climate in Therapy ) explores the white man’s gaze and turns the camera on colonial legacy and the film itself. The doc, world premiering in the main competition of the 23rd edition of CPH:DOX , the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival , on Monday, March 16, is a tale of two halves. In the first part of the film, Grossman rewinds the tapes of the 1996 trip, organized by a Brazilian civil servant and Swedish journalist Erling Söderström to meet the Korubo tribe, who chose to live far away from civilization. The expedition ended in a first encounter, with the footage hailed as a sensation, rare images from a long-hidden world. Related Stories Movies How to Watch the Oscars 2026 Around the World TV Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell Face Off in New Images of BBC-HBO Series 'Half Man' The second part of Amazomania follows Söderström on his journey back to the tribe 30 years later. But the trip doesn’t quite go as hoped. In the process, a profound misunderstanding is revealed. And the Korubo tribe demands compensation and insists on the right to tell its own story. “ Amazomania is a complex study in documentary method and ethics, and it is a film with enormous confidence in the audience’s own judgement,” the CPH:DOX website highlights. Grossman directed the film produced by Cecilia Nessen. The doc features cinematography by Grossman, Söderström and Diego Lajst. The editors of Amazomania are Jordana Berg and Grossman. Autlook Filmsales is handling sales. The resurfaced footage of the 1996 expedition decades later “forces the...