New releases

Zama

A richly layered exploration of personal malaise, set in an 18th-century Spanish colony.

Argentina-Brazil-Spain-The Netherlands-Mexico-Portugal-USA 2017
Dir Lucrecia Martel
With Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele
115min
Digital
English subtitles
Certificate tbc
Courtesy of New Wave Films

Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel returns with a fine adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto’s existential novel. In her first feature since 2008’s The Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel creates a richly layered exploration of personal malaise. Don Diego de Zama (Cacho) is a minor officer in an unnamed colony of the 18th-century Spanish crown, desperate to relocate from his remote post to the city where his family lives. As his request gets repeatedly delayed by endless bureaucracy, Martel charts his progressive decline with opulent visuals and a multi-layered soundscape. Zama, which premiered as the Sight & Sound Special Presentation at the BFI London Film Festival in 2017, is a new high for one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of her generation.

Anna Bogutskaya, Events Programmer

Also available on BFI Player