In the late 18th century, at the far reaches of the Spanish Empire, Don Diego de Zama serves as magistrate at a small colonial outpost. A haggard and forlorn figure, Zama knows the only way to escape his miserable frontier existence is to secure a transfer from the crown. As the years pass and his letters go unanswered, he begins to sink deeper into the nightmare of a New World ripped apart by violence and exploitation. A dreamlike adaptation of Antonio di Benedetto’s masterpiece of Argentinean literature, Zama marks the great Lucrecia Martel’s (La Ciénega; The Headless Woman) return to filmmaking for the first time in nearly a decade. With its elliptical narrative and sensuous use of sound, the film is an absurdist and occasionally hallucinatory descent into the mind of a man who will stop at nothing to improve his rank, whatever the cost.

In competition for the Cine Latino Award and the FIPRESCI Prize.