Country: Philippines, Spain, Portugal, France
Year: 2025
Duration: 165'
16th century. Magellan, a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator, rebels against the power of the King, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world. He persuades the Spanish Crown to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East. The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control. This is not the myth of Magellan, but the truth of his journey.
Biography
film director
Lav Diaz
(Cotabato, Philippines, 1958) studied at the Mowelfund Film Institute in Quezon City and debuted in 1997 with The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion, making a name for himself as one of the most innovative directors of Filipino cinema. Lasting legitimation arrived with Batang West Side (2002), which received awards at Brussels and Singapore, and with Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004), presented at Rotterdam and Turin, as also the documentary Storm Children (2014) and his masterpieces A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (2016). His films have been presented in Cannes (Norte - The End of History, 2013), Locarno (From What Is Before, 2014, Golden Leopard), Berlin (A Lullaby for the Sorrowful Mystery, 2016, Alfred Bauer Award) and Venice (The Woman Who Left, 2016, Golden Lion).
FILMOGRAFIA
Serafin Geronimo, kriminal ng baryo concepcion (The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion, 1998), Burger Boys (1999), Batang West Side (2002), Hesus rebolusyonaryo (Hesus the Revolutionary, 2002), Ebolusyon ng isang pamilayang Pilipino (Evolution of a Filipino Family, 2004), Heremias: Unang aklat - Ang alamat ng prinsesang bayawak (2005), Melancholia (2008), Florentina Hubaldo, CTE (2012), Norte, hangganan ng kasaysayan (Norte - The End of History, 2013), Mula sa kung ano ang noon (From What Is Before, 2014), Hele sa hiwagang hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, 2016), Ang babayeng humayo (The Woman Who Left, 2016), Ang panahon ng halimaw (Season of the Devil, 2018), Ang hupa (The Halt, 2019), Lahi, hayop (Genus Pan, 2020), Historya ni Ha (History of Ha, 2021), Isang salaysay ng karahasang Pilipino (A Tale of Filipino Violence, 2022), Kapag wala nang mga alon (When the Waves Are Gone, 2022), Essential Truths of the Lake (2023), Phantosmia (2024), Magalhães (Magellan, 2025).
Declaration
film director
“Magellan has always been the paradigm to all explorers, to anybody who wants to go beyond, like astronauts. Magellan is always on their mind – the Magellan saga, the Magellan journey. But Magellan is also a model, a paradigm to anybody who seeks to find different possibilities. Like in cinema, where we think that we can still push the medium somewhere, so does Magellan look at the world and declare ‘we’ll find something nowhere.’ It’s the romantic dream of another way to have a paradise on earth, to discover it. Magellan knew that he couldn’t be king. But he could find a place somewhere where he could fulfil his dreams, his ambitions. Magellan was so ahead of his time, just like Vasco de Gama and all the other explorers, because they knew that there was something more somewhere out there. Cinema for me is like that. We can still push it somewhere. I think if you keep pushing cinema, then you’ll find something new, you’ll find something more relevant. It’s like a vision. Or something about fear, where we must destroy every wall of fear so that we can find new frontiers. We’ll still find some islands of gold somewhere.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER: Lav Diaz. CINEMATOGRAPHY, FILM EDITING: Artur Tort, Lav Diaz. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Lav Diaz, Isabel Garcia, Allen Alzola. COSTUME DESIGN: Célia Fernandes, Kim Perez. SOUND: Emmanuel Bonnat, Cecil Buban. CAST: Gael García Bernal, Ângela Azevedo, Amado Arjay Babon, Ronnie Lazaro, Hazel Orencio, Tomás Alves, Bong Cabrera, Baptiste Pintaux, Brontis Jodorowsky. PRODUCTION: Rosa Filmes, Andergraun Films.
CONTACT: Luxbox info@luxboxfilms.com
