Rose Uncovers Forgotten Local Historical Artifacts During Brazil Shoot

MirrorWater Entertainment (MWE) is finalizing production on The Lost Voice, the much-anticipated documentary about the first woman believed to have ever filmed in the Amazon. The story follows award-winning filmmaker Christina Rose who obsessively searches to find out who her great-grand aunt Pola Brückner (a.k.a. Pola Bauer-Adamara) was and why her career abruptly ended after the film expedition into the Amazon forest in 1929. 

Determined to give her great-grand aunt a standing in Germany’s cinema history as an accomplished filmmaker and find proof that Pola was indeed the first woman to ever film in the Amazon, Christina herself is confronted with her own demons that have haunted her as a filmmaker.

Production in Brazil began on April 29^th in Rio da Janeiro, continuing on to Belém and Marajó Island, tracing the exact footsteps of the film expedition that took place over 90 years ago, and ending in São Paulo. During filming, Rose made a significant archaeological discovery, unearthing lost railway tracks previously unknown to the local community, bringing hidden aspects of regional history into focus and reigniting community interest in local heritage.

“We interviewed a number of experts from Belém to help us understand the history of the region, the history of Marajó where Pola filmed, and also retracing her footsteps in the Amazon. These individuals had never heard of Pola or were familiar with the film expedition in that respect. But it was our research that led them to uncovering and discovering so much about their own local history,” explains Rose.

“We ended up finding the train tracks that Pola describes in her book that people from the region never knew existed. It has led to new research projects being initiated as we speak. Furthermore, I talked to a historian from Marajó, and he was moved to tears in learning about us and how we are tracing a part of history that has so far gone untold. I never expected this, and it has truly moved me to the core.”

First look: Christina Rose The Lost Voice Teaser 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9PwS58Fzsw (to embed)

Inspired by the book of Pola Brückner A Woman Went into the Jungle (Eine Frau ging in den Urwald), Christina sets out on a journey to discover who her great-grand aunt Pola was. She searches in a number of archives and traces her steps in the film industry in Berlin, but with every new document she finds in the archives more questions arise. As she searches for answers, she realizes that to learn about what really happened during the expedition she too must take the journey that Pola and filmmaker August Brückner, her then husband, took almost 100 years ago. Rose decides to travel to Brazil where she traces their fateful journey on the Amazon River – not just to find out about what really happened but to verify if what she recounts in her book is truth or fiction.

“We’ve been researching Pola and everything surrounding the film expedition for well over a year and I’m very grateful to have the production company Grifa Filmes on my side who not only helped during the research phase but have been a vital partner in making the film shoot in Brazil possible,” adds Rose.

The film is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025 and will embark on its film festival journey.

Rose’s award-winning series Empowered – Women Shaping the Future, featuring women in non-traditional roles, was shortlisted for the Screen International Global Production Awards, held in Cannes on May 19, 2025.