Pioneiros e duendes: desenvolvimento e integração da Amazônia a partir dos filmes documentários de Jean Manzon

Abstract

From the late 1940s to the present day, the Brazilian Amazon received several actions from the federal government that, among other reasons, aim to bring progress and development to the region. The starting point for this research is the construction of the Belém-Brasília highway in the late 1950s, part of a large national development plan, the Plan of Goals of the government of President Juscelino Kubitscheck. During the period of construction of the road, there was legislation that encouraged the production of small documentaries in the country. The French filmmaker Jean Manzon was one of the main directors of these propaganda documentaries and has always been very close to the power centers of the country. Here we will analyze two of his productions on the construction of Belém-Brasília, Amazônia goes to meet Brasilia (1958) and Coluna Norte (1960) and seek to make visible the indigenous peoples who lived in this region. These films are loaded with speeches about the Amazon characterized by exoticism, fanfare and also by the absence of indigenous populations and other peoples. Based on the studies of the discourse, taking as a reference the formulations of Michel Foucault and Rosário Gregolin and authors interested in decolonial discussions such as Ivânia Neves and Aníbal Quijano, we will analyze the conditions of historical possibilities that would allow some discourses about Amazonia to be seen and others silenced in these films.