TWR Film Tracks Dying Tribes’ Transformation

Ivan Schoen and tribe chief, Nuwahe, spent decades translating the Bible into the Wayana language, finally completing the Word in its entirety in 2021.

The true-life adventure story of a family who moved to the Amazonian jungle to tell Indigenous tribes about Jesus will make its global debut on Friday, Nov. 8.

Lifted: A Dying Tribe Encounters New Life is the first full-length documentary produced by TWR, also known as Trans World Radio.

“Our goal is to glorify God by getting this out to as many people as possible,” said Clay Perry, TWR Global Marketing and Communications video director and one of the film’s producers.

Lifted is about Ivan and Doris Schoen, who in 1961 moved with their three preschool-aged children to the interior of Suriname to live among remote tribes who were believed to be fierce and warlike.

Using footage taken by the Schoen family from the earliest days along with interviews of family members, it tells how the Schoens gradually befriended two tribes, the Wayana and the Trio. The Schoens learned their language, taught them to read and told them about the God who loves them and sent his Son, Jesus, to die for them.

From tribes that once killed 85% of their babies, the Wayana and Trio now are characterized by healthy families and are reaching out to other tribes. The youngest of the Schoens, Tom, is working with TWR alongside the tribes to build two radio stations in the jungle, one broadcasting in each of the tribal languages.

Ivan Schoen was inspired to enter missionary service by a newspaper account of Jim Elliot and four fellow missionaries who were killed while trying to reach the Huaorani people of Ecuador. Perry hopes people today will be similarly inspired by the Schoens’ story.

“We wanted some people to be directly called to the mission field,” Perry said. “We knew it had the potential to do that.”

In fact, it already has. An early release of the film was shown to a full house of 150 people at the Cary Theater in Cary, North Carolina, on Oct. 11. Brandon Hall, another of the film’s producers, invited a group of friends, most of whom chatted enthusiastically after the showing. But a friend named Sarai was quiet.

“I got a call from her the next day,” Hall related. “[Sarai] said she felt the Lord very strongly calling her to overseas missions during the whole film.” 

To find out how you can watch Lifted and share it with your church or group, visit the landing page: twr.org/lifted.