Lucrecia Martel's first film in 10 years premiered in Venice 2017 to huge acclaim.
Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown born in South America, waits for a letter from the King granting him a transfer from the town in which he is, to a better place. His situation is delicate. He must ensure that nothing overshadows his transfer. He is forced to accept submissively every task entrusted to him by successive Governors who come and go as he stays behind.
The years go by and the letter from the King never arrives. When Zama notices everything is lost, he joins a party of soldiers that go after a dangerous bandit.
It is adapted from Antonio di Benedetto’s 1956 classic of Argentine literature, recently published by the New York Review of Books - and available to buy here. New Wave Films also released Lucrecia Martel's previous film, The Headless Woman (La Mujer sin Cabeza).
Preview screening with a Q&A with Lucrecia Martel May 22nd BFI Southbank
Preview only May 24th ICA Cinema
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Born in 1966, Martel studied animation at Avellaneda Experimental (AVEX), attended the National Experimentation Filmmaking School (ENERC) for several years, and studied Communication Science. She directed a number of short films between 1988 and 1994, including Rey Muerto (Dead King), when was part of Historías Breves I (Brief Tales I). In 2001, Martel directed the film La Ciénaga (The Swamp), which won awards in Berlin, Havana, Toulouse, and Sundance, among other festivals. In 2004, Martel wrote and directed La Niña Santa (The Holy Girl), which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival that year. In 2008 came The Headless Woman (La Mujer sin Cabazo), and now after a long interval, Zama, which premiered in the 2017 Venice Film Festival.
2018: Zama
2007: The Headless Woman (La Mujer sin Cabeza)
2004: The Holy Girl (La Niña Santa)
2001: The Swamp (La Ciénaga)
1995: Rey Muerto, short

Production |
|
Director & screenwriter |
Lucrecia Martel |
Cinematographer |
Rui Poças |
Editors |
Miguel Schverdfinger, Karen Harley |
Sound |
Guido Berenblum |
Production Designer |
Renata Pinheiro |
Costume Designer |
Julio Suarez |
Sound Designer |
Guido Berenblum (ASA) |
Sound Mixer |
Emmanuel Croset |
Make-up |
Marisa Menta |
hairstyling Alberto Moccia |
Alberto Moccia |
Casting |
Verónica Souto, Natalia Smirnoff |
Assistant Director |
Fabiana Tiscornia |
Line Producer |
Javier Leoz |
Executive Producers |
Pablo Cruz, Gael García Bernal, |
Diego Luna, Angelisa Stein |
|
Associate Producers |
Guillermo Kuitca, Juan Manuel Collado, |
Fabiana Tiscornia, Elvira González Fraga, Alejandro Musich, |
|
Gonzalo Rodríguez Bubis, Julia Solomonoff |
|
Co-Producers |
Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García, |
Marie-Pierre Macia, Claire Gadéa, Juan Pablo Galli, |
|
Juan Vera, Alejandro Cacetta, Eva Eisenloeffel, |
|
Leontine Petit, Joost de Vries, Michel Merkt, |
|
Luís Urbano, Georges Schoucair, Joslyn Barnes, |
|
Danny Glover, Susan Rockefeller, Juan Perdomo, Natalia Meta |
|
Producers |
Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, |
Matías Roveda, Vania Catani |
|
Co-production Companies |
El Deseo, Patagonik, MPM Film, Canana, Lemming Film, |
KNM, O Som e a Fúria, Louverture Films, Schortcut Films, |
|
Telecine, Bertha Foundation, Perdomo Productions, |
|
Picnic Producciones, Punta Colorada de Cinema |
|
Production Company |
Rei Cine, Bananeira Filmes |
CAST |
|
Daniel Giménez Cacho |
|
Lola Dueñas |
|
Matheus Nachtergaele |
|
Juan Minujín |
|
Rafael Spregelburd |
|
Nahuel Cano |
|
Mariana Nunes |
|
Daniel Veronese |
|
2017 |
|
Argentina, Brazil, Spain, France, Netherlands, |
|
Mexico, Portugal, USA |
|
115 mins |
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1:1.78, 2K, 5.1 |
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"Martel is back, after a nine-year absence, with the astonishing Zama"
Xan Brooks, The Guardian
"Beautiful, hypnotic, mysterious and elliptical, “Zama” is a story about a man at odds with a world that he struggles to dominate, which becomes a lacerating, often surprisingly comic evisceration of colonialism and patriarchy."
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
"This isn’t just a movie but a full-on miasma — a humid, atmospheric vision of a complex world conjured from the inside."
Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times
Download set of 8 photos
Download UK quad poster high res jpg
Interview with Lucrecia Martel at the New York Film Festival (Video)
New interview with Lucrecia Martel in The New York Times
Interview with Lucrecia Martel in the Huffington Post
Interview with Lucrecia Martel in Film Comment
Interview with Lucrecia Martel in The New York Times
Interview with Lucrecia Martel in Mubi Notebook
Article on Zama the book and the film by Esther Allen (translator of the book) in the New York Review of Books
Interview with Lucrecia Martel by E. Nina Rothe
Location interview with Lucrecia Martel from Sight & Sound
Article on Lucecia Martel in Vogue (US)
Dennis Lim on Lucrecia Martel
Article on Lucrecia Martel in Artforum
Download Venice Press book