Christina Rose is an American-German director, producer, and screenwriter, and is part of the new Hollywood Movement, bringing entertainment to the global stage. She has worked in North America, Europe, Africa (at the famous Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate), and Asia. Together with her brother Michael, she co-founded MirrorWater Entertainment LLC.
Prior to this, Rose worked at such prestigious companies as Arad Productions (The Amazing Spider-Man), Exclusive Media (Rush, Ides of March), and in distribution at ZDF-Enterprises, where she developed numerous projects with Michael Hirst (Vikings) and William J. MacDonald (Rome). She also served as an executive at the European network Sky, acquiring new projects for development.
Since starting MWE, she has produced a number of documentaries and TV shows for the international market, including the six-part documentary series Wonder Women, where we meet young women leaders in underrepresented industries around the world who are redefining leadership for a better future. Her new documentary The Lost Voice uncovers the true story of her great-grand aunt Pola Brückner, who is thought to be the first woman ever to film in the Amazon.
You discussed The Lost Voice at the Global Entertainment Showcase during the French Riviera Film Festival in Cannes while the film was still in post-production. What was it like sharing such a personal journey with an international audience?
It was great. I enjoyed being able to share a sneak peek since we are still in post-production. It was fun sharing our journey so far, and certainly when I reflect on my great-grand-aunt’s adventure, I could not help but think of what her journey must have been like as a woman faced with unbelievably harsh and difficult situations. She must have been a very courageous woman to withstand all that she had to face.
When you describe Pola Brückner’s story to filmmakers and industry professionals in Cannes, which aspects tend to resonate most strongly?
When I pitch the story, there is always a reaction when I reveal that she was my great-grand-aunt. Every time, people seem to take notice, hesitate, and understand that there is a passion I present that extends beyond a film expedition from 1929/1930 in the Amazon.
I also have to think back about how it all started. During the pandemic, I came across Pola’s book Eine Frau ging in den Urwald (A Woman Went into the Amazon Forest) by chance. It was a book of both curiosity and mystery. I had always wanted to read it, but it was written in an old German font type that was difficult for me to read. With more time on my hands, my mother shared passages from it along with her insights, as she had once met Pola Brückner. In that moment, I knew I wanted to know more about this woman and what drove her to do what she was doing. However, I was in the middle of finishing our documentary series EMPOWERED (Wonder Women). In 2023, a family friend transcribed the entire book, which piqued my interest even further, and the birth of the project began.
As both a filmmaker and a descendant of your subject, how did it feel to discuss the project publicly, knowing you are helping restore a voice that history nearly erased?
Every time I have a chance to talk about this story—how it came about, why I chose to tell it, and being able to share Pola’s accomplishments—is without a doubt an honor for me. This has affected me personally in ways that are hard to describe. It is a feeling, a passion, a desire to understand, to know more, to try to see, feel, and hear what Pola must have been thinking.
What began as a search for your great-grand-aunt’s story evolved into a much broader historical investigation. Was there a specific moment when you realized the project had expanded beyond a family narrative?
Yes, absolutely. I cannot take credit for finding the light railway tracks and uncovering the mysteries surrounding them. The person who deserves credit for this is Diego Barros, the park ranger of Utinga Park in Belém. Elena Welper and Claudia Belfort, our research team, had traveled to the Amazon to retrace Pola’s footsteps and to seek new insights and information. Our source material was the book that Pola wrote, in which she mentions taking a rest on a small carriage that, before she knew it, started to uncontrollably roll down the hill. There was no stopping the runaway carriage. Luckily, nothing happened to her, but it is quite a funny story the way she describes it. We wanted to know if these light train tracks still existed. When Claudia spoke to Diego, he had never heard of them but confidently said that if they did exist, we would find them. Sure enough, a few weeks later, they sent us a video showing that they had found them. What is so amazing is that two professors from the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Haroldo Baleixe and Fernando Marques, got involved and then sought to verify that they were authentic from the time Pola describes. They started their own research project tracing the history of the train tracks and discovered more tracks all over the park. It is truly very amazing.
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