Harpur Cinema presents ‘Zama’ – Lucrecia Martel – Argentina/Brazil – 2017

Don Diego de Zama, an 18th-century corregidor (an administrator of the Spanish colonial empire) in a remote outpost on the Paraguay River waits, endlessly, for a more prestigious post. In this “cinematic marvel,” Lucrecia Martel exposes the absurdity and horrors of colonialism with “her limpid visual choices” (The New York Times), her stunning plastic inventiveness, and expressive use of framing and sound. In her pointed exploration of relations of power, the colonized bodies rendered invisible by their obvious exploitation get their visibility and centrality back through provocative mise-en-scène. This sumptuous and surreal satire of colonialism “reaches psychedelic summits” in the last “demented” thirty minutes (Cahiers du Cinéma).

Won: Premios Fénix, 4 Fénix Awards – International Cinephile Society Awards, Best Picture – Argentinean Film Critics Awards, 9 Silver Condors – Rotterdam Film Festival, Best Director