Considered lost for almost a century, what is considered the first film shot in the Amazon has not only been found but is also making a comeback this Wednesday at the Brazilian Cinematheque in São Paulo.
It will then move on to João Pessoa, Rio, Fortaleza, Manaus, and, next year, Portugal. Directed by the Portuguese-Brazilian photographer and filmmaker Silvino Santos, "Amazonas, The Greatest River in the World" was recorded in 1918 but got lost in the 1930s, despite gaining popularity in Europe through illegal copies and being the work of one of the founders of Brazilian documentary filmmaking.
However, negatives of a nitrate cellulose copy were found by chance in February of this year at the National Cinema Archive of the Czech Republic in Prague. Mistakenly cataloged as an American production from 1925, the material's authenticity was confirmed by the Brazilian Cinematheque.