Magellan

Directed by Lav Diaz
Philippines
2025
160 mins
Gael García Bernal stars as famed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in this Cannes-selected, visually resplendent epic by Filipino auteur and SFF regular Lav Diaz.

Early in the 16th century, Magellan (García Bernal) falls out with the Portuguese king. He instead turns to the Spanish Crown to fund an expedition to the faraway Spice Islands, and bids his wife Beatriz farewell. At sea with his crew, violence, sabotage, mutiny and more unfurl, captured in stark, stunning tableaux. When Magellan at last reaches the Philippines, he becomes set on conquest and converting the Indigenous people to Christianity, but is met with powerful defiance. Seen from Diaz’s forcefully anticolonial gaze, Magellan is no hero. Shot in brilliant colour and featuring a major star in Bernal, it’s an inviting point of entry to this contemporary master’s body of work, whilst being no less compromising than his usual oeuvre.

Stunningly mounted, politically rigorous. By the standards of Filipino formalist and running-time maximalist Lav Diaz, his latest opus qualifies as a veritable blockbuster
Guy Lodge, Variety

Tickets

Wed 11 June 2025, 6:30pm
Selling Fast
Palace Central - Cinema 1
WheelchairSubtitled
Sat 14 June 2025, 11am
Dendy Newtown - Cinema 1
WheelchairSubtitled
  • Program Strand
  • Original Title
    MAGALHÃES
  • Year
    2025
  • Classification
    Unclassified 18+
  • Country
    Portugal, Spain, France, Philippines, Taiwan
  • Language
    Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog and French with English subtitles, In Portuguese with English subtitles
  • Director
    Lav Diaz
  • Producer
    Joaquim Sapinho, Marta Alves, Albert Serra, Montse Triola, Paul Soriano, Mark Victor
  • Cast
    Gael García Bernal, Ângela Azevedo, Amado Arjay Babon
  • Screenwriter
    Lav Diaz
  • Cinematographer
    Artur Tort, Lav Diaz
  • Editor
    Artur Tort, Lav Diaz
  • Genre
  • Premiere
    Australian Premiere
  • Company Credits
    World Sales: Luxbox
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