The film, a coproduction involving the Philippines, Spain, and Portugal (Rosa Filmes), was partially shot in Portugal and is competing for an Oscar nomination in the Best International Feature Film category.
‘Magalhães’, which premiered in May at Cannes, features Mexican actor Gael García Bernal in the role of Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), known for initiating the circumnavigation voyage and who died in the Philippines.
The film, focusing on the final months of Magellan’s life and his encounters with the native population of the Philippines, also stars actress Ângela Machado as Beatriz Barbosa, the navigator’s wife, along with actors Tomás Alves, Rafael Morais, Ivo Arroja, and Valdemar Santos, among others.
‘Magalhães’ is the result of seven years of research and fits the profile of other works by Lav Diaz, described by the Cannes Film Festival in May as “a meditation on power, conquest, and the illusions of the myth of civilization.”
In the coming weeks, the film will be featured at film festivals in New York (USA), Toronto (Canada), and Busan (South Korea).
The 98th edition of the Oscars, the American film awards, is scheduled for March 15, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.
Several countries have already selected their candidates for a nomination, including Germany (‘In die Sonne schauen’, by Mascha Schilinski), Japan (‘Kokuho’, by Lee Sang-il), and Norway (‘Sentimental Value’, by Joachim Trier).
Portugal is still in the selection process through the Portuguese Academy of Cinema, working from a pre-selection of five films: ‘Banzo’, by Margarida Cardoso, ‘Hanami’, by Denise Fernandes, ‘Os Papéis do Inglês’, by Sérgio Graciano, ‘Sobreviventes’, by José Barahona, and ‘Sonhar com Leões’, by Paolo Marinou-Blanco.
