How To Academy Podcast Filmmaker Petra Costa - Democracy on a Knife-edge
Feb 17, 2026
Petra Costa, Brazilian filmmaker behind The Edge of Democracy and Apocalypse in the Tropics, reflects on January 8th’s assault on Congress and how her film helped expose coup plotting. She explores evangelical ties to the far right, the role of footage in legal investigations, and the power of documentaries to shift public debate and global attention.
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Religion Fueled A Political Movement
- Brazil's rise of Bolsonaro was tightly linked to Christian fundamentalism that gave him mass support.
- Petra Costa sees Brazil as a metaphor for a global far-right fever threatening democracy and church-state separation.
Filming The Aftermath Of January 8th
- Petra Costa's team filmed the January 8th insurrection using both attacker mobile footage and fresh cinematography of the ruins.
- Their footage included destroyed camera cards and days-later DOP shots that form the film's unsettling finale.
Documentary Footage Shaped Legal Action
- The film included rally footage that became evidence in the federal investigation into the coup plot.
- That footage and subsequent police seizures implicated televangelist Silas Malafaia as an instructor to Bolsonaro.