In first-look footage, Gael García Bernal’s Magellan anchors a tale that promises both sweeping historical scope and the introspective, unhurried rhythms Diaz is known for.
Magellan, one of the latest works from renowned Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, has been making rounds on the international film festival circuit for a while now, having had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May. Recently, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) re-uploaded a first-look clip of the film, previously released in May 2025, sparking discussions once more. Two things have stood out since early updates began trickling in: Gael García Bernal and that unusually short runtime.
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What We Know About Magellan
When we say “unusually short,” this is in comparison to most Diaz films. Its 160-minute runtime (a little over two hours) is long enough to warrant multiple bathroom breaks for those who don’t have bladders of steel. Still, it stands out as one of the filmmaker’s shortest works, as fans have expressed on social media.
This is, after all, the man known for making pieces that span eight hours on average (yes, you read that right)—with his 2004 rural saga Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino clocking in at more than 600 minutes (a little over 10 hours). Diaz’s works aren’t for everyone, but Magellan might just be his most mainstream-friendly piece to date (Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan, his 2013 psychological drama, would be next on the list with its roughly four-hour runtime).
Another detail that sparked interest was the film’s foreign cast, namely its leading man Gael García Bernal, a favorite among many cinephiles since his feature film debut in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros (2000), and his career-defining performance in Alfonso Cuarón’s iconic Y Tu Mamá También (2001).
International critics are already praising his performance, and the film received a five-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, so there’s a considerable amount of both excitement and curiosity surrounding how the Mexican actor will portray the famous Portuguese explorer. Clips tease a beautifully shot work filmed across the Philippines, Portugal, and Spain, chronicling the final months of Magellan’s life before his death in 1521 on the island of Mactan, Cebu.
Something Different—But Still A Recognizably Lav Diaz Film
Diaz’s works often delve into the country’s socio-political landscape, exploring the ways in which memory, trauma, systemic injustice, and history shape the human condition. The majority of his films are rendered in a slow, almost meandering (and typically non-linear) black-and-white style that’s become a creative signature—his unconventional techniques marking him as a distinctive voice in world cinema.
That said, Magellan signals a slight departure for the filmmaker, being one of his few films shot in color. Yet even in the first footage clips, it’s quite clear that his static takes, minimal camera movements, and tensely contemplative atmosphere remain. Take this clip of the explorer watching waves lapping against his ship, or another depicting Filipinos transporting him on a raft across a river.
One of the more dialogue-heavy clips features a scene between Magellan and his pregnant wife, María Caldera Beatriz Barbosa: intimate in scope, the exchange is fairly simple, yet it still carries the quiet, hefty pain born from the man’s impending departure.
Make no mistake: while we expect Diaz to approach even the colonizers with a level of depth and nuance, the movie doesn’t aim to add to the Portuguese explorer’s already mythologized legacy. As the filmmaker explains in an interview with writer Benoit Pava for Cannes, “It’s a film about how power intoxicates and the myth of discovery. Here, Magellan is no hero; he is a man facing his own oblivion.” It’s certainly a journey of unraveling that we’re looking forward to seeing unfold in a way only Diaz can accomplish.
