Iracema: Uma Transa Amazônica

Tião, a white Brazilian trucker portrayed by Paulo César Pereio, the sole professional actor in Iracema: Uma Transa Amazônica, drives through a rapidly changing Amazon with Iracema, a 15-year-old mixed-race prostitute. Shot in 16mm to provide access to remote settings, this 1974 Cinema Novo film mixes scripted scenes with documentary footage of deforestation and conversations with peasants, workers and prostitutes. Initially banned in military-ruled Brazil because of its societal critique and explicit sexual content, Iracema debuted at the 1975 Taormina Film Fest, screened at Cannes in 1976, and in 2015 was selected by the Brazilian Film Critics Association (Abraccine) as one of the 100 Top Brazilian films of all time.