Magellan

Magellan (2025)

Magalhães

At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition under the Spanish crown in search of the first westward route to the Spice Islands. He embarks on a perilous journey across the uncharted Pacific, where his fleet faces starvation, mutiny, and the psychological toll of endless seas. Upon reaching the shores of Cebu, Magellan is pulled into a fatal conflict with the natives by his drive to spread Catholicism, culminating in his tragic doom.

Date of release
2025-09-10
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (42)
Runtime
2h 40m
Genres
History, Adventure, Drama
Director
Lav Diaz

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Magellan is a 2025 historical epic film written and directed by Lav Diaz. The film stars Gael García Bernal as Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and depicts Magellan's role in early-16th-century Portuguese and Spanish colonial campaigns in Southeast Asia.

Production

Director Lav Diaz conceptualized the film with production company Rosa Filmes under the working title Magellan, which would portray a group of Filipinos who travel to Portugal to trace Magellan's origins in Portugal. The film aimed to "reverse the look between the coloniser and the empire".

Diaz stated his seven years of research into historical sources led him to portray Lapulapu, the datu of Mactan, as a myth rather than a historical figure. He said Lapulapu may have been created by Rajah Humabon to discourage Magellan's crew from converting more people into Christianity, and that "no one ever saw Lapulapu".

Gael Garcia Bernal, who portrays Magellan, learned of the project from Joaquim Sapinho, met producers Sapinho and Albert Serra in Berlin to discuss his role, and later met with Diaz in Lisbon. Gael, who speaks Spanish, learned to speak Portuguese to play Magellan.

Principal photography took place in the towns Sampaloc and Mauban, both in Quezon, Philippines, in November 2024; this was followed by filming in southern Portugal and Cádiz, Spain. Production in the Philippines ended in December. The production used a replica of Ferdinand Magellan's ship Victoria used as a museum ship in Cádiz. During filming, Diaz fell ill with tuberculosis.

Arthur Tort, producer Albert Serra's regular collaborator, was the director of photography alongside Diaz. Scenes were filmed using multiple Panasonic Lumix GH7 digital cameras, in 4:3 aspect ratio: Tort used the same equipment in Pacifiction (2022) and Afternoons of Solitude (2024).

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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