Screening times:
Friday, March 27, 6:30 PM

Lav Diaz | Portugal, Spain, France, Philippines, Taiwan | 2025 | 160m
Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, French with English subtitles

In the 16th century, Ferdinand Magellan, a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator, rebels against the power of the king, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world. Spurred by humanism and justice, he persuades the Spanish Crown to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East. On the voyage with the Spice Fleet he will make the first circumnavigation of the Earth, but it is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, sparking violent uprisings beyond his control. This is not the myth of Magellan, but the truth of his journey.

Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz focuses on the final months in the life of Magellan, who died in the Philippines in 1521. He paints an intimate, haunting portrait of a man facing his own demons. Using a radical style — long static shots in black and white, and haunting silences — Diaz creates work that is at once political and sensory. This film is the result of seven years of research — a three-hour epic where formal purity works as a meditation on power, conquest, and the illusions of the myth of civilization. Gael García Bernal in the title role embodies a man who is haunted by his visions, dogged by the voices of the people he claims to discover. “It’s a film about how power intoxicates and the myth of discovery,” explains Lav Diaz. “Here, Magellan is no hero, he is a man facing his own oblivion.”

"Magellan isn’t an action movie; it’s a consequence movie. But Diaz, within all this meticulous subtraction, adds dramatic heft and political meaning. In draining any visceral excitement from violence, he subtly decolonizes the camera’s gaze." - Justin Chang, New Yorker

"...while “Magellan” reps Diaz’s best shot at general arthouse distribution in some time, it’s no artistic compromise. The spirit of slow cinema is alive and languid in this stunningly mounted, politically rigorous work..." - Guy Lodge, Variety

"Magellan is a well-crafted meditation on the insignificance of man and the emptiness of colonial conquest." - Ria Dhull, Spectrum Culture

The Philippines' entry for Best International Feature Film - Academy Awards, 2025
Golden Spike for Best Film - 70th Valladolid International Film Festival
Nominee, Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Film and Cinematography

Tickets $12 ($11.40 at the door if available)