I Heard the Calling: The Return of the Tupinambá Cloak

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: February 2026

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €597,000 (17% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Gap financing, international co-producers, buyer, sales agents / distributors, strategic guidance.

Synopsis:

Célia Tupinambá, an Indigenous artist and leader, travels across European museums to access and document the eleven sacred Tupinambá cloaks, taken during colonization. Away from her village, she leads the movement for the return of these ancestors capable of healing the land. An impact documentary that delves into the cosmogony and cosmoagony behind the largest restitution in Brazilian history.

Director’s Profile:

Robson Dias is a Brazilian director, editor, and documentary filmmaker based in Marseille. He holds a Master’s in Documentary Directing from Aix-Marseille Université and a Cinema degree from PUC-Rio. His debut short “Pra Inglês Ver” won an award at the Gramado Film Festival. He directed the second unit of “Surfing West Africa” (Canal OFF) and co-wrote and edited the feature “Kabadio” before relocating to Europe. He trained at CLCF École de Cinéma in Paris and has worked for the past ten years across France, Germany, and Italy. A participant in the Warner Bros. Discovery accelerator program, he directed “Favela Turística”, now streaming on MAX and airing on TLC and TNT. He recently spoke at Rio2C and remains active on the international film circuit.

Co-director’s Profile:

Célia Tupinambá is an artist, anthropologist, activist, filmmaker, and leader of the village in Serra do Padeiro, located in the Tupinambá de Olivença Indigenous Territory in southern Bahia. Célia holds a degree in Intercultural Indigenous Education from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia (IFBA), and a master’s degree in Anthropology from the National Museum/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She co-directed the documentary “Voice of Indigenous Women” (2015) alongside Cristiane Julião Pankararu and Alexandre Pankararu. She is a representative at UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. After holding solo exhibitions in prominent venues, galleries, and institutions, in 2024 she became the first Indigenous artist to represent Brazil at the Venice Biennale, with the exhibition “Ka’a Pûera: We Are Birds That Walk.”

Producer’s Profile:

Myrza Muniz is a Brazilian director, writer, and producer based in Rio de Janeiro. She began her career in advertising, with a master’s specialization at ESCP Paris and working at Publicis Group Paris. She later transitioned to cinema, earning a degree from the Darcy Ribeiro Film School in Rio and participating in renowned labs by Globo and Netflix. Myrza creates both fiction and non-fiction series and feature films for platforms such as Amazon Studios and GloboPlay. She has collaborated on award-winning short films, including “Agora” (Grand Prize at the Short to the Point International Film Festival), the fiction short “Bença” (winner of the Prix Courtoujours at the Toulouse Festival), and the feature documentary “Recognized”, which premiered at the 2025 edition of the É Tudo Verdade festival. She has led Selvática Filmes, a BIPOC-led production company, since 2017.