Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (1994)

In the sultry heart of 1993 Brazil, iconic filmmaker Sam Fuller invites fellow cinematic genius Jim Jarmusch on a journey into the past. Together, they traverse the majestic Mato Grosso and sail up the River Araguaia to the quaint village of Santa Isabel Do Morro. This is no ordinary voyage; it's a pilgrimage to a place that Fuller had been commissioned to scout by Zanuck four decades prior, for a movie that never came to be—a tale of a tigrero, a fierce jaguar hunter. Fuller embarks on this expedition armed with the hope of finding villagers who still remember him and the film he shot in 1954. He finds himself as a Rip Van Winkle figure, waking up to a world that, on the surface, has transitioned into modernity with televisions, wristwatches, and brick houses. Yet underneath, the same vibrant Karajá culture pulses with life, unaltered and unashamed. In a poignant reunion, Fuller gathers the villagers, unveiling the old film footage as if peeling back the years. Recognition sparks in their eyes as they identify friends and relatives, lost but vividly alive on the screen. Fuller, the unlikely time-traveler, is thanked for his unique gift—resurrecting memories and, for a fleeting moment, the people they hold dear. The film, Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made, becomes not about the movie that never was, but about the timeless connection between past and present, between memory and reality, and between cinema and life.

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made is a documentary movie featuring Jim Jarmusch and directed by Mika Kaurismäki.

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made is currently streaming on Criterion Channel.