A personal crisis sends Augusta, a young Italian woman, far from home on a search for faith and meaning in her life. True to her devout Catholic background, she decides to accompany a nun as she ministers to Indigenous Brazilian villages along the Amazon River. Gradually disillusioned with the hierarchical nature of the work, Augusta opts to stay in the port city of Manaus, where she joins a favela community and works alongside the family she adopts there. Tragedy strikes, and she embarks on a bold journey of self-realization—in utter isolation, where she can finally face herself completely.

A feast for the eyes, There Will Come a Day captures the grandeur of the Amazon with gorgeous aerial shots and contrasts them with intimate, textured moments among characters in close quarters, inspiring us to reflect on scale and perspective. Toggling between hushed moments with Augusta’s religious mother in Italy and the more colorful, energized world of Brazil, this layered, meditative film subtly explores how spiritual questions materialize at different stages of life, how destabilizing experiences yield new insight, and how our postcolonial era reframes the very notion of altruism. - C. L., K. Y