Chile, 1901. Intent on expanding his holdings, notorious cattle rancher José Menéndez (Alfredo Castro) dispatches a trio of gunmen to the southern reaches of Tierra del Fuego to scout and scourge the land. A former British infantryman, MacLennan (Mark Stanley) has nominal command, though rancid American roughneck Bill (Benjamin Westfall) has his own ideas about that, while mestizo Segundo (Camilo Arancibia) knows a word out of place could result in a bullet in his back. Their odyssey across a forbiddingly harsh, ugly-beautiful terrain includes tense, fractious encounters with other colonists and bloody skirmishes with indigenous groups. Evocative of the work of Cormac McCarthy in its commitment to brutal truth-telling (although much of the violence takes place off-screen, it doesn’t feel that way) this South-western makes no bones about its searing critique of white supremacist foundational myths; myths that apply right across the Americas. What’s most impressive, though, is the stunning, elemental imagery limned by DP Simone D’Arcangelo and Harry Allouche’s striking, scratchy score. The Settlers can be a hard ride, but it’s not one you’ll forget in a hurry.
Supported by
Alfredo Castro, Mark Stanley, Benjamin Westfall, Camilo Arancibia
Chile/Argentina/France/
Denmark/UK
2023
Panorama
In Spanish and English with English subtitles
Racist Content, Colonial Violence, Sexual Violence
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Fernando Bascuñán, Alex C. Lo, Constanza Erenchun, Amy Gardner
Producer
Giancarlo Nasi, Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matías Roveda, Emily Morgan, Thierry Lenouvel, Stefano Centini, Katrin Pors, Eva Jakobsen, Mikkel Jersin, Kristina Börjeson, Anthony Muir, Ingmar Trost, Fernando Bascuñán
Screenwriter
Felipe Gálvez Haberle, Antonia Girardi
Cinematography
Simone D’Arcangelo
Editor
Matthieu Taponier
Production Design
Sebastián Orgambide
Director
Felipe Gálvez
Felipe Gálvez (b. 1983) is a Chilean filmmaker, writer and editor based in Paris. The Settlers is his first feature as director.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
VIFF+ Members' Early Bird Day Surprise Screening
Join us at the VIFF Centre on August 7 for a free VIFF+ members-only screening of a past festival-favourite! Popcorn, coffee, & tea provided. Not a member? You can join now!
Vancouver Mysteries Presents... Murder at the Movies
This summer, enter the world of film noir with a new immersive murder mystery blending elements of film with live performance and audience participation. This show turns the VIFF Centre into a crime scene and you, the audience, into detectives.
Samia
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.
Sudan, Remember Us
A portrait of young artists and activists, Meddeb's doc charts events in Khartoum between 2019 -- in the immediate wake of the revolution that deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir -- and the mood four years later, when the country has been torn apart by civil war.
Margaret
Seventeen-year-old Lisa is rocked with guilt after a woman is killed in a traffic accident. But that’s only one thread in a teeming social tapestry this intense, passionate teen must negotiate as she comes of age in a time of contradiction and confusion.
E.1027 Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea
In this elegant non fiction film, actors play Irish designer Eileen Gray, her lover, the architect Jean Badovici, and modernist superstar Le Corbusier, who would become obsessed with the house on the Cote d'Azur that Eileen designed.