Chilean Western About Colonialism – ‘The Settlers’ Official US Trailer
by Alex Billington
December 7, 2023
Source: YouTube
“You never know who they are going to shoot.” Mubi has debuted the official US trailer for an acclaimed Chilean indie drama titled The Settlers, originally Los Colonos in Spanish. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and also played at Toronto, New York, London, & Denver Film Fests. Described as a “visceral & visionary anti-Colonialist Western.” Debut writer-director Felipe Gálvez asserts himself as a revelatory new cinematic voice with The Settlers, a searing and indelible take on the Western. A mixed-race Chilean rides south on an expedition led by MacLenan, a former Boer War English captain and Bill, an American mercenary, to fence off land granted to the Spanish landowner José Menéndez. Blending historical specificity with vivid visual style, the film creates a singular immersive vision, arresting in both content and form. Set against stunning mountain landscapes, Chile’s Best International Feature Film entry to the 2024 Oscars is a visceral reckoning with national myth and the attendant violence. Starring Camilo Arancibia, Mark Stanley, and Benjamin Westfall. This looks damn good – it is definitely worth a look.
Here’s the official US trailer (+ poster) for Felipe Gálvez’s The Settlers, direct from Mubi’s YouTube:
At the turn of the 20th century, three horsemen embark upon an expedition across the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the behest of a wealthy landowner, tasked with securing his vast state-appointed property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize, amidst rising tensions in the group, their true mission is to murderously “remove” the indigenous population. Painterly yet piercing, this acclaimed frontier epic turns a bold eye to the past, daring to re-imagine its depiction in the present and for the future. The Settlers, originally known as Los Colonos in Spanish, is both written and directed by Chilean editor / filmmaker Felipe Gálvez (aka Felipe Gálvez Haberle), making his feature directorial debut after a few short films previously, and lots of work as an editor on other Chilean films. It’s produced by Giancarlo Nasi, Benjamin Domenech, Katrin Pors, Thierry Lenouvel. This first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Mubi will release Gálvez’s The Settlers in select US theaters (NY & LA only) starting on January 12th, 2024 before streaming later.
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