Transamazonia is a 2024 coming-of-age film directed by Pia Marais, who co-wrote the screenplay with Willem Droste.[1][2] The film stars Helena Zengel as the daughter of an American missionary in the Amazon rainforest, played by Jeremy Xido, who claims that his daughter is a faith healer.[3]
Premise
As a child, Rebecca is rescued from a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest by a member of a nearby Indigenous tribe. Now a teenager, she is well known in the area as her father, American missionary Lawrence Byrne, claims that she is a faith healer. Rebecca's misgivings about her situation are compounded by the arrival of illegal loggers poised to disrupt the local way of life.[3]
Principal photography for Transamazonia took place in July 2023.[2] The film was presented as a work in progress at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion that September.[5]