Many thanks to Michael Kornemark of Sweden, for translating this for me.

Tigrero


Tigrero-A Film That Was Never Made Finland/Germany/Brazil 1994 Direction and script Mika Kaurismäki Photo Jaques Cheuiche Music Nana Vasconselos With Samuel Fuller, Jim Jarmusch, Karajá-indians 85 minutes (35 mm swedish subtitles) (Distributed by NFK)
The combination Mika Kaurismäki, Samuel Fuller, Jim Jarmusch and an indian-tribe in the Amazon may seem kind of psychedelic, but are nevertheless the main characters in this documentary. The background for this somewhat strange constellation goes way back in time, some forty years to be precise. At that time, Samuel Fuller travelled to the Karajá-indians deep in the Amazon rainforest to make the movie Tigrero. This was in the early fifties, and way before Fuller had achieved any special kind of status in the american movie industry, even if films like The Steel Helmet (-51), Fixed Bajonettes (-51), and Pickup on South Street (-53) had had a certain amount of success. It was´nt until the end of the fifthies and the beginning of the sixties with films like Run of the Arrow (-58?), Shock Corridor (-63) and The Naked Kiss (-65) that the world did recognize a greater talent. The French had for a long time regarded Fuller as an equal to John Ford and one of the people who first used the author theories. So, many years later, Jarmusch, Kaurismäki and Fuller travel back to the Amazon to visit the place for the making of the film that never was made, and to reflect over Fullers long and strange carrer. One gets the suspicion that Mika Kaurismäki got the idea to this movie during his time in the area 1990, when he shot the rainforest epic Amazonas.

krj


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