Academy Award-nominated documentarian Petra Costa is returning to her native Brazil to capture a universal truth: Christian nationalism has become embedded within international politics. Costa’s “Apocalypse in the Tropics” poses the question: “When does a democracy end, and theocracy begin?,” as the logline states. “Weaving together past and present, the film holds a mirror up to the rest of the world.”
The doc examines the rises of current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and the nation’s leading televangelist Silas Malafaia. In short, the film is billed as being a “cinematic investigation of the fault lines that emerge when religion fuels political ambition.”
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” is written, directed, and produced by Costa, with Alessandra Orofino co-writing and producing. The executive producers are Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jenny Raskin, Jim and Susan Swartz, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jeffrey Lurie, Marie Therese Guirgis, Felipe Estefan, Rafael Georges Zein, Jeremy Kleiner, Meadow Fund, Katy Drake Bettner, Kate Hurwitz, InMaat Foundation, Frida Polli, James Costa, and Trevor Burgess.
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where it was acquired by Netflix, and later had its North American premiere at Telluride 2025. The feature went on to open the 2025 edition of DOC NYC Selects. “Apocalypse in the Tropics” is Costa’s follow-up to “The Edge of Democracy,” which Netflix also distributed.
The IndieWire review for the feature cited the parallels between the two films, with critic David Ehrlich writing that “Apocalypse in the Tropics” similarly “portrays the chaotic events of the past election cycles with beat-by-beat precision.” The review reads, “All of this turns ‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’ into an often visceral watch for Brazilians and, with the support of Costa’s narration (again done in English, though there are two versions of the film — the one with Portuguese voiceover premiered at Venice) will almost certainly help her film attain, once more, international attention.”
Costa recently told Deadline that “Apocalypse in the Tropics” isn’t just about Brazil, but can be applied to any nation, especially the U.S. “The marriage between this Christian fundamentalism and the far right is incompatible with democracy because the main principle of democracy is that you have to coexist with your enemy,” she said. “Even though the United States is the first nation to have to declare the separation of church and state, it’s also the first to create such a deliberate movement to infuse politics with Christianity and mobilize its followers into these culture wars that are now having their apex… When I look at the history of American politics through the lens of what I’ve discovered in making this film, it’s as if the foundation of MAGA and what you’re seeing of Trump’s government now is the moral majority.”
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” will be released in select theaters on Friday, July 11, followed by a streaming release on Netflix on Monday, July 14. Check out the trailer below.