New Arrival Magellan (Criterion)

A hypnotic journey engraved in images of staggering beauty and horror, this monumental achievement from Lav Diaz boldly rewrites the imperialist mythmaking of the Age of Discovery. Elegantly minimalist yet overpowering in its scale and impact,Magellanfollows the sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Gael Garca Bernal) as he embarks on his epochal quest to cross the Pacifica voyage that spirals into zealotry and violence when he attempts to impose Christianity upon the people of the Philippines. Abetted by Garca Bernals radically antiheroic portrayal, Diaz composes a stark vision of the brutality at the heart of European conquest and a haunting elegy for a lost precolonial past.

INCLUDES

• Meet the Filmmakers: Lav Diaz,a Criterion Channel original interview
• Trailer
• Notes by critic Beatrice Loayza

Criterion Premieres is a selection of new theatrical films presented on Blu-ray and DVD, released in association with the Criterion Channel.