Tribute to Samuel Fuller 2011 / Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made / Brazil, Finland, Germany 1994
In Mika Kaurismäki’s documentary, Sam Fuller takes Jim Jarmusch on an adventure back to the Brazilian jungle where 40 years earlier he had studied the customs of the indigenous Karajá tribe while scouting locations for his unrealized adaptation of Tigrero, a novel about a jaguar hunter. Recipient of the International Critics Award at the 1994 Berlinale, the film expresses unreserved admiration for Samuel Fuller’s work and philosophy.
An essential chapter in the life of every great director is the list of films he or she never shot. In 1954 Fuller set out for the Brazilian jungle to scout locations for adapting the adventure novel Tigrero. The shooting was canceled due to unreasonable insurance demands for stars John Wayne, Tyrone Power, and Ava Gardner, but the trip itself rewarded Fuller with the powerful experience of meeting the indigenous Karajá tribe, whose members he immortalized on acetate. Forty years later he returns to the same spot in the Araguaia River region as the protagonist of a documentary put together by two young admirers of his work. Mika Kaurismäki took up directing duties while Jim Jarmusch served as Fuller’s companion on the journey, and the pair engage in discussions as unpredictable as their adventures traveling to central Brazil. Cited by critics as the best film of the 1994 Berlinale, Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made not only presents the indigenous inhabitants as they come to terms with the influence of modern civilization, but it also expresses unreserved admiration for Samuel Fuller’s work and philosophy.
75 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Mika Kaurismäki
/ Screenplay Mika Kaurismäki
/ Dir. of Photography Jacques Cheuiche, Samuel Fuller
/ Music Nana Vasconcelos, Chuck Jonkey
/ Editor Mika Kaurismäki
/ Producer Mika Kaurismäki
/ Production Marianna Films
/ Cast Samuel Fuller, Jim Jarmusch
/ Contact The Finnish Film Foundation
Mika Kaurismäki (b. 1955, Helsinki) attended film school in Munich (1981). He and his younger brother Aki established the production and distribution company Villealfa Filmproduktions, which launched a new era of Finnish film. Both brothers worked closely together from the start. In the early 1990s Mika launched his own film company, Marianna Films, and in 1989 moved to Rio de Janeiro which is now his second home. He travelled to the Brazilian jungle to film the feature-length documentary road movie Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made, which won the International Critics’ Award in Berlin in 1994. He works both as a director and producer on feature and documentary films, in which he expresses compassion for outsiders and understanding for dissenters who break the rules. In 1995 KVIFF showcased a series of his films in the section The Return of the Magnificent Seven.
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Phone: +358 962 203 00
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