THE INDIES

Press Screening:

Press Screening: Thu, 3.9. | 7:15 PM | Sala Corinto
World Premiere: Sat, 5.9. | 4:30 PM | Sala Perla
Screening: Fri, 11.9. | 9:00 AM | Sala Perla

81 Min. / Switzerland, Spain / feature

Trailer:

Directors Pauline Julier & Nicolas Chapoulier and main actors Théo Urtubey and Raphaël Thiéry are available for interviews.

THE INDIES (LES INDES) by writers-directors Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier will have its world premiere at Venice Giornate degli Autori 2026. The period road movie uses history as a lens through which to examine the origins of the world we inhabit today. It will screen in the Competition section and marks the directors’ first fiction feature.

Inspired by the true story of Velázquez’s 1652 portrait of Maria Theresa of Austria, THE INDIES follows the painting’s journey from the Spanish court to Louis XIV’s France – a journey that helped seal a political alliance and peace after the Thirty Years’ War. Set at a turning point between the medieval world and the emerging age of science, commerce and conquest, the film traces three men carrying the portrait through a landscape increasingly subjected to human control. Connecting the refinement and rituals of two royal courts with the wildness of nature, THE INDIES reflects on the origins of a system built on relentless expansion, and on the growing awareness of how deeply human life remains intertwined with the natural world.

SYNOPSIS
Alejandro, a young Spanish nobleman, is tasked with delivering the portrait of the Infanta of Spain to the young Louis XIV, in a journey intended to seal the alliance between the two crowns. Fascinated by the promises of the New World – lands to be conquered and new trade routes to be opened –he is accompanied by two French soldiers. As they carry the portrait across a Europe ravaged by war and uprisings, the three men venture deeper into an increasingly hostile and untamed landscape. Their long and arduous journey to the French court becomes a passage between two worlds, as the path towards the emerging modern age remains uncertain.

The film stars newcomer Théo Urtubey alongside Raphaël Thiéry (Poor Things, The Animal Kingdom) and award-winning Lazare Minoungou (Sira, Night of the Kings).

Pauline Julier is a Swiss-French filmmaker and artist. Her films and installations have been presented internationally at institutions including the Centre Pompidou and Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Tanzania, WIELS in Brussels, the Pera Museum in Istanbul, and the Cinémathèque of Toronto. A two-time recipient of the Swiss Federal Art Award, she has been an associated artist at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and a resident at the Swiss Institute in Rome. Her work has been the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Switzerland and will be presented at the upcoming Karachi Biennale. Her recent works include the documentary installation A Million Year Picnic – Conversations sur Mars (2025), as well as the documentaries Follow the Water (2023), Way Beyond (2021), and Naturales Historiae (2019).

Nicolas Chapoulier is a writer, director, and stage director whose multidisciplinary practice spans theatre, performance, and cinema. With the company Les 3 Points de suspension, his productions have toured extensively in France and internationally, including La Grande Saga de la Françafrique, which was nominated for the 2017 Molières. In 2014, he received the Écrire pour la rue grant from the Beaumarchais-SACD Foundation for Looking for Paradise. He was invited to represent France at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and was appointed a theatre expert for DRAC Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes in 2019. In 2022, he received the SACD Prize for staging in public space. THE INDIES is his first film.

THE INDIES is produced by Alina Film (Switzerland) in co-production with Lastor Media (Spain), in co-production with RTS Radio Télévision Suisse.

Supported by Eurimages, FOC – Federal Office of Culture, Cinéforom, Loterie Romande, ICEC -Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals, Suissimage, Pour-cent culturel Migros, Fonction: cinéma.
The project participated in RCF– Rencontres de coproduction francophone, Marseille, and ECAM Forum – Last push (Special Jury Mention), Madrid.

Production Company:
Alina film
eugenia@alinafilm.com
david@alinafilm.com
www.alinafilm.com

World Sales:
MoreThan Films
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lidia@morethan-films.com
Marijana Harder | Immanuelkirchstraße 12 | 10405 Berlin

©/CREDITS:

Stills: © Alina Film