Skip to main content
The Road to Patagonia film image; woman wading through the ocean during a sunset

The Road to Patagonia

Book Now Book Now

A travelogue, an eco doc, an adventure movie and a love story, The Road to Patagonia has touch points for just about everyone. Our first person narrator and cameraman is Matty Hannon, an Australian ecologist who drops out of professional life to get back in touch with something meaningful. After a spell living with an indigenous tribe in Indonesia he finds himself in Alaska, and sets out on a motorcycle (and surfboard) journey of discovery, 50,000 km down the Pacific coast. But an encounter with a Vancouver Island permaculture farmer, Heather Hillier, will have a profound impact on his expedition…

Drawing from some 16 years of footage, the film isn’t short on incident or spectacular scenery. Hannon certainly goes through ups and downs. A decision to swap motorbikes for horses proves especially consequential. Interviews with people he encounters along the way, many of them indigenous (Zapatista rebels, Amazonian shamans, Mapuche leaders) fighting a rearguard action against various extractive industries add a political edge to what becomes a kind of pilgrimage.

On a big screen, with the cinematography glowing the way it should and Daniel Norgren’s unexpectedly excellent soundtrack playing over some decent speakers, The Road to Patagonia is a pretty rhapsodic way to spend 90 minutes of your life.

Graeme Tuckett, The Post (NZ)

A charmer, full of wonder at the world.

Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

Hannon’s feature debut embraces the possibility of the open road with full-hearted passion. His diaristic film documents his travels with the centrepiece being an astonishing journey from Alaska to Patagonia – first on motorbike, then on horse. Driven by an awe for natural beauty, the documentary also reveals its fragility, as new development in Chile and elsewhere threatens to drain rivers and wipe out whole forests.

Phuong Le, The Guardian

Director

Matty Hannon

Featuring

Matty Hannon, Heather Hillier

Credits
Country of Origin

Australia

Year

2025

Language

In English, Spanish and Mentawai with English subtitles

19+
90 min

Book Tickets

Friday September 12

6:40 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Book Now

Saturday September 13

7:45 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Book Now

Sunday September 14

2:30 pm
VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Book Now

Monday September 15

5:30 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Book Now

Credits

Executive Producer

Amanda Lavoie, Tye

Producer

Matty Hannon

Cinematography

Matty Hannon, Heather Hillier

Editor

Matty Hannon

Original Music

Daniel Norgren

Also Playing

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Dir. Embeth Davidtz
98 min

Embeth Davidtz adapts Alexandra Fuller's memoir of growing up in Rhodesia as it transformed into post-colonial Zimbabwe in 1980. Lexi Venter is astonishing as the feral child at its centre.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Samia

Dir. Yasemin Şamdereli
102 min

Despite growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war, Samia Yusuf Omar persists in her dream of becoming an Olympic athlete and competes in Beijing, 2008 -- with London, 2012 next on her agenda. Based on a true story.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

In the Mood for Love

Dir. Wong Kar-wai
107 min

Wong Kar-wai's most acclaimed and popular film is a love story about two neighbours (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who are drawn together by the long absences of their respective spouses + a newly released short companion piece from 2001.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Dancing Home

Dir. Wang Cheng Yi
90 min

In 2015 internationally acclaimed Paiwan choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava returned to his hometown and established a new dance company for indigenous youth, rooted to nature and ancient tradition. This is their story.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema