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![The Guardian]()
“a fascinating investigation into Brazil’s evangelical preachers who contributed to the rise of Jair Bolsonaro.”
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![The Hollywood Reporter]()
“A must-see for anyone interested in the intersection of politics and religion.”
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![THE FILM VERDICT]()
“...gripping sequel to 'The Edge of Democracy'.”
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![Imagem em branco, sem elementos visíveis.]()
"One of the most important documentaries of the year."
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![Variety]()
“...Costa wonders how far Brazil might be from becoming a theocracy”
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![NYT Vulture]()
"Stunning."
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![The Playlist]()
“Petra Costa’s Pulse-Pounding Documentary About Brazil’s Anti-Democratic Evangelicals Is Gloriously Cinematic”
Apocalypse in the Tropics
SYNOPSIS
Documentary | 110’ | color | 35mm/DCP | Brazil | 2024When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? In Apocalypse in the Tropics, director Petra Costa takes us on a decade-long journey through the spiritual and political upheaval of Brazil. What begins as a search for signs of life in a fragile democracy transforms into a deeper inquiry into the seductions of power, prophecy and belief. Costa gains extraordinary access to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President Jair Bolsonaro and the nation’s magnetic televangelist Silas Malafaia. More than a chronicle of political change, Apocalypse in the Tropics is a cinematic investigation of the fault lines that emerge when religion fuels political ambition.
With the clarity that defined her Academy Award–nominated The Edge of Democracy, Costa documents a time of kaleidoscopic confusion and fear with intimate observational filmmaking that braids together the personal, the historic and the mythic. As faith shifts from private refuge to public battleground, Brazil holds a mirror to a world where democracies are being tested by the power of prophecy.
CREDITS
Written, directed and produced by Petra Costa
Produced and co-written by Alessandra Orofino
Editing David Barker, ACE; Tina Baz; Nels Bangerter; Victor Miaciro; Jordana Berg, edt.; Eduardo Gripa
Co-writers Nels Bangerter, David Barker, Tina Baz
Lead character researcher and interviewer Anna Virginia Balloussier
Director of photography João Atala
Cinematographers Pedro Urano, Murilo Salazar
Director of exclusive images Ricardo Stuckert
Executive producers
Jenny Raskin, Jim & Susan Swartz, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jeffrey Lurie, Marie Therese Guirgis, Felipe Estefan, Rafael Georges Zein, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Meadow Fund, Katy Drake Bettner, Kate Hurwitz, InMaat Foundation, Frida Polli, James Costa, Trevor Burgess
Co-executive producers
Pancho Magnou, Natasha & David Dolby, Krista Parris, Shelby Rachleff, Kelsey Koenig, Sandra Whipham, Maxyne Franklin, ICI
Co-producers
Anders Riis-Hansen, Malene Flindt Pedersen
Associate producers
Radical Media
Main script collaborators
Moara Passoni, Carol Pires, Yaël Bitton, Fernando de Barros e Silva
Co-editors
Cao Guimarães, Bruno Lasevicius
Co-director during development
Murilo Salazar
Line producers
Gal Buitoni, Leda Stopazzolli, Luciane Toffoli
Final post-production supervisor
Danielle Belo
Production manager
Georgia Kirilov
Production coordinators
Carolina Forattini Igreja, Laís Ribeiro
Consulting producer
Laura Nix
Original score
Rodrigo Leão
Sound mix
Olivier Goinard
Sound design and editing
Felippe Mussel, Olivier Goinard, Carlos E. García
Additional sound design and editing
Martin Hernandez
Music supervision
Randall Poster, Milena Erke
Archival producers
João de Castro, Antonio Venancio
Research coordinator
Brunno Pacini Ferreira
Religious researcher
Nicolas Iglesias Schneider
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
FESTIVALS
81st Venice International Film Festival (2024)
Telluride Film Festival (2024)
CIFF - Camden Film Festival (2024)
San Sebastian Film Festival (2024)
New York Film Festival (2024)
Festival do Rio (2024)
Zurich Film Festival (2024)
Hamptons Film Festival (2024)
Santa Fe Film Festival (2024)
São Paulo International Film Festival (Mostra SP) (2024)
Chicago Film Festival (2024)
Hot Springs Film Festival (2024)
Philadelphia Film Society (2024)
Montclair Film Festival (2024)
Denver Film Festival (2024)
Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife (2024)
Stockholm Film Festival (2024)
Cineuropa Santiago de Compostela (2024)
IDFA – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (2024)
Porto/Post/Doc (2024)
Festival de Brasília (2024)
Marrakech International Film Festival (2024)
Festival Pachamama - Da Floresta aos Andes (2024)
Havana Film Festival (2024)
Palm Springs International Film Festival (2024)
Antenna Documentary Film Festival (2024)
Sedona International Film Festival (2024)
CPH:DOX (2025)
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (2025)
Ambulante Film Festival (2025)
Miami Film Festival (2025)
Uruguay International Film Festival (2025)
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (2025)
Millennium Docs Against Gravity FF (2025)
DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival (2025)
Sheffield Doc/Fest (2025)
PRODUCTION
Director
Petra Costa is a Brazilian filmmaker whose work moves between the intimate and the political, exploring themes such as memory, identity, democracy, and trauma. She is the founder of the production company Busca Vida Filmes and the director of Elena (2012), Olmo and the Seagull (2015, co-directed with Lea Glob), and The Edge of Democracy (2019), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Her films—screened and awarded at festivals such as Venice, Sundance, Locarno, and IDFA—blend poetic, hybrid, and essayistic language, making cinema a space for listening, invention, and resistance. Petra holds a degree in Anthropology from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a Master’s from the London School of Economics. Her perspective weaves the deeply personal with a critical investigation of Brazil’s contemporary landscape and its historical wounds.
Producer
Alessandra Orofino is the Executive Director of Peri, a media company focused on stories that matter. A specialist in mass communication and large-scale organizing, she brings extensive experience in civic mobilization and the development of impact-driven content for film and television. She co-founded NOSSAS, where she served as Executive Director, created and directed the political satire show Greg News, and is the lead producer of Petra Costa’s latest documentary. Alessandra serves on the boards of three organizations centered on cultural strategy and storytelling: the Luminate Foundation, the Meliore Foundation, and the Institute for Culture, Communication, and Impact (ICCI). She is also an Obama Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Skoll Award for Social Innovation in 2022.
INTERVIEWS
PRESS
