An important note about this year’s New York Film Festival program: 19 of the 34 directors have never been on the main slate before. The debut in Locarno before the stop in the USA is TransamazoniaPia Marais’ first feature film since 2013 Layla Fouriewho is looking for a distributor. Before these screenings, a first trailer for The Party Film Sales is available, which suggests a work of great scope and ambition.

Here is the NYFF synopsis: “In the eerie silence of the vast, green Amazon jungle, a young girl comes to life. The child Rebecca was rescued by a member of the local indigenous tribe and is the only survivor of a plane crash. Years pass and Rebecca (Helena Zengel) becomes something of a local celebrity after her father (Jeremy Xido), an American missionary, hires the teenager as a faith healer. Just as Rebecca begins to develop a will of her own and doubts her father and the role she is meant to play, another crisis erupts when illegal loggers invade the land, threatening the native tribe’s livelihood and forcing emotional, familial and racial conflicts. South African-born director Pia Marais has created a fascinating, gorgeously photographed morality tale with no easy answers, and a unique coming-of-age fable.”

Watch the trailer: