A new short film, Vitória Régia (Amazon Water Lily), paints a chilling vision of a post-coup Brazil that has surrendered the Amazon rainforest to the United States. The film, directed by Denis Kamioka (known as Cisma), imagines an alternative 2025 where far-right coup plotters succeed in overthrowing Brazil's democracy, assassinating the president, closing the national congress, and handing over the Amazon and its resources to Washington.
The narrative opens with a North American soldier welcoming journalists to the 'Amazon of America' during a propaganda tour of an oil refinery in the annexed jungle. A replica of the Statue of Liberty stands carved into the wilderness, symbolizing US dominion over more than half of Brazil. The film explores what might have happened if Jair Bolsonaro's plot to seize power after the 2022 election had succeeded.
In reality, the coup attempt failed after rightwing insurrectionists stormed Brasília. Bolsonaro and his allies were tried and jailed. However, the film serves as a stark reminder of a future Brazil narrowly avoided, yet still feared by many. After the 'green and yellow dagger revolution', the military takes power, censors media, purges dissenters, and transfers Amazon control to the US in exchange for support during the coup.
Brazilian reporters, including the protagonist Carol (played by Alice Braga), are barred from entering the rainforest without a visa. A news blackout prevents details of environmental devastation from emerging, communications are cut, and Indigenous leaders disappear. Harold Goldman, head of oil firm Amazon X, celebrates US control over the rainforest's resources, boasting to cameras about a new chapter in US-Brazil relations.
Director Cisma noted the film was shot in March 2025, nearly a year before Donald Trump ordered Nicolás Maduro's abduction as part of a plan to seize Venezuela's oil. 'It was frightening the extent to which reality and fiction became mixed up,' he said. Braga, who became involved in Indigenous and environmental activism after visiting the Amazon a decade ago, added: 'It was crazy. We were making a fiction film... but then the US ended up taking this political stance with Trump... and the film became almost a documentary.'
The 21-minute film was made in collaboration with Indigenous networks Coiab and Apib, aiming to highlight threats facing Brazil's Indigenous peoples and their centuries-long struggle to defend their lands. Ywyzar Tentehar, 23, an Indigenous actor, said she hoped the project would draw attention to ongoing invasions by loggers, ranchers, and land-grabbers in her territory.
The Amazon's future again looks precarious as Bolsonaro's son, Flávio Bolsonaro, prepares to challenge leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for the presidency. During Jair Bolsonaro's 2019-23 administration, deforestation soared and a gold rush invaded Indigenous lands. Activists fear a return to such destruction if another Bolsonaro wins, and worry about the fate of democracy if a rightwing president pardons those jailed for the 2022-23 coup attempt.
In another real-life echo, Flávio Bolsonaro was recently accused of offering the US access to Brazil's rare-earth reserves in exchange for help in October's election. Braga expressed concern, urging voters to study candidates carefully. Pedro Inoue, a graphic designer and activist involved in the film, said the film, partly inspired by the novel The Ministry of the Future, offers hope through its pop aesthetic and soundtrack, emphasizing the power of Indigenous resistance. 'They are the past, the present, and the future. They have the answers about dealing with the end of the world because they've been dealing with it for more than 500 years,' he said.
Cisma hopes Vitória Régia—named for the lily-shaped symbol used by Indigenous dissidents in the film—will serve as an alert about sovereignty, Indigenous resistance, and democracy. 'This isn't a film about a distant future. That's the scariest part. It's about something that's happening right now,' he concluded.
