By Florenda Corpuz
TOKYO – The Philippines’ official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards will have its Japan premiere at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), after being selected for the cinematic event’s prestigious World Focus section.
The 164-minute historical drama “Magellan” had its world premiere in the Cannes Premiere section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May and was released theatrically in the Philippines by TEN17P last September.
Starring Gael Garcia Bernal as Ferdinand Magellan, the film is set in the 16th century, following a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator who defies the king’s disapproval to pursue his dream of discovering new lands. Persuading the Spanish Crown to fund his bold expedition, Magellan’s voyage tests his crew with hunger, mutiny, and the hardships of the open sea.
Upon reaching the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s motivations shift. He becomes consumed with conquest and the spread of Christianity, sparking violent uprisings beyond his control. The film, according to its synopsis, presents “not the myth of Magellan, but the truth of his journey.”
Director Lav Diaz, whose films have become a fixture at TIFF since his Japanese debut in 2009 with the short “Butterflies Have No Memories (Walang Alaala ang mga Paru-Paro),” said making “Magellan” has long been a dream.
“I’ve always dreamed of making a film about Magellan. I’m a Filipino, and when Magellan arrived at our shores, it was the first encounter with the West… and that started a new era for us,” the Golden Lion-winning Filipino auteur said.
He added that the film approaches Filipino history from a critical perspective. “On our side, the main characters are Humabon, the king, and Lapu-lapu, the chief who killed Magellan. Lapu-lapu is the great hero of our history. After reading a lot of the books and connecting the dots, a good investigator will find this character very questionable. The facts don’t add up. I think the film will be revisionist, in a sense.”
Lav Diaz
Diaz believes challenging established narratives is essential. “Our biggest problem in the Philippines is myth-making. You can say that it started when we created this thing, Lapu-lapu. Nobody ever saw him, he probably never existed. It was a myth from the very beginning. Now, we have demagogues because of myth-making.”
The film, which also stars Angela Azevedo as Beatriz, Magellan’s wife, and Ronnie Lazaro as Raja Humabon, will be screened on Oct. 29 at Toho Cinemas Hibiya Screen 12 and on Nov. 4 at Cine Switch Ginza 1.
(Photos courtesy of Rosa Filmes [Portugal], Andergraun Films [Spain], BlackCap Pictures [Philippines])
