Magellan

Magellan (Magalhães, 2025) is an epic historical drama you can watch online on iFILM. Directed by Filipino auteur Lav Diaz, the 160-minute co-production spans Spain, Portugal, France and the Philippines, with Gael García Bernal playing Ferdinand Magellan — the Portuguese navigator who switched allegiances, set sail under the Spanish crown, and never made it home.

After a falling-out with Lisbon over how its Asian colonies were being governed, Magellan heads to Madrid. The Spanish king wants a western passage to the spice-rich Pacific islands — a sea route nobody had mapped. What follows is months of open ocean: dwindling provisions, mutiny below deck, and the psychological weight of endless water. When the fleet finally reaches Cebu, Magellan's drive to convert the islanders to Catholicism pulls him into a local war that ends his life.

Lav Diaz built his reputation on long, slow-burning meditations on colonial wounds and human endurance — black-and-white films that stretch for five, six, even eight hours. Here he takes on a figure caught between two empires, two worlds, two fates. Stream Magellan (2025) online on iFILM.