Director: Jorge Brodansky
Writer(s): Orlando Sena, Jorge Brodansky
Actor(s): Edna de Cássia, Paulo César Pereio
Production Co.: Cinema Guild
Country: Brazil
Year: 1976
Language and subtitle information: Portuguese dialogue, English subtitles.
Format: VHS
[ratings]
Summary: Recounts the adventures of Iracema, a 14-year-old Indian girl, who leaves her village to discover life in the big city. Surviving by prostitution, she joins up with a trucker and their journey on the Trans-Amazon Highway provides a sobering view of the ‘new’ Brazil, showing the beauty of Amazonia as well as the ecological, social and moral destruction being wrought by unhindered exploitation.
Supplemental Materials:
Iracema, uma transa amazônica is a fictional piece concerning the realities and difficulties of the lives of certain members of indigenous communities attempting to branch out to larger cities in Brazil. This story follows the particularly painful journey of a fifteen year old girl that resorts to prostitution in order to find her way toward her desired destination. This film calls attention to the abuse and exploitation of indigenous peoples (specifically women) that existed in the past and continues to exist today.