Chilean director Fernando Guzzoni is returning to the Venice Film Festival four years after his acclaimed film “Blanquita” earned the Silver Lion for best screenplay. This time, he brings “Land of the Savages,” which will be showcased at the Venice Gap-Financing Market as Guzzoni seeks to bring the project back to the festival’s main competition.
The historical drama stars Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart in leading roles set during 1850 Chile. Ramírez portrays Elías, a wealthy enslaver plagued by troubling visions of his past, while Biscayart takes on the role of Francisco, a French-educated abolitionist. The narrative explores their entanglement in a web of corruption and betrayal against the backdrop of Chile’s largely forgotten history of slavery and exploitation of Black and Afro-Caribbean populations.
Guzzoni developed the project after witnessing xenophobic reactions to Haitian immigration in Chile, which sparked his curiosity about the country’s relationship with Black communities. His research uncovered three centuries of slavery that had been systematically erased from Chilean historical records and education. He views the film as an examination of how European elite identities were constructed through the exclusion and exploitation of marginalized groups across Latin America.
The director emphasized that his casting choices reflect the film’s thematic concerns, selecting Ramírez for his physical presence and political consciousness, alongside Biscayart’s ability to portray complex characters with nuance and sophistication.
Originally reported by Variety →
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