Sorcery

Witchcraft, revenge and Indigenous rancour swell in this atmospheric, anti-colonial bildungsroman set in 19th-century Chile.

On the remote island of Chiloé, Huilliche teenager Rosa works with her dad as domestic help for German settlers; over time, she has begun to internalise their customs and cultivate a Christian faith. But when her father is killed by their employer over a misunderstanding and neither Church nor State come to her aid, Rosa is set on a path of mystical vengeance. Rescinding her Western faith, she becomes enmeshed with La Recta Provincia, a group of local sorcerers, who promise to teach her ancient magic to avenge her family and empower her native heritage.

Based on actual stranger-than-fiction events – La Recta Provincia was a real-life Chilean sect tried in 1880 for practising witchcraft – Sorcery is a taut, slow-burning work that melds the coming-of-age tale at its heart with magic realism, fairytale flourishes and folkloric horror. Produced by acclaimed auteur Pablo Larraín (Ema, MIFF 2020; The Club, MIFF 2015) and drawing comparisons to The Witch (MIFF 2015) and The Nightingale (MIFF 2019), this strikingly beautiful film is a spellbinding study of ritual, redress and defiant self-determination.

“A darkly brooding and delirious fable about a teenage girl seeking alternative justice … Submersive and compelling.”– Screen Daily