WINNER · IDA DOCUMENTARY AWARD 2025BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE · LOS ANGELES
The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson
DOCUMENTARY · 80 MIN · 2025
Synopsis
A young filmmaker becomes obsessed with a mysterious painting he discovers in his grandmother's house, leading him to Madrid in search of its creator: Julio Zachrisson.
A young Panamanian filmmaker travels to Madrid to meet Julio Zachrisson, the legendary printmaker whose work has marked him since childhood. What begins as a personal quest gradually transforms into an intergenerational dialogue between two artists. Filmed over nearly five years, while Zachrisson faces the loss of his eyesight in the final chapter of his life, the two forge an unexpected friendship that transforms them both. Built from never-before-seen interviews and archival material, this documentary reflects on memory, identity, and art as a bridge between generations.
Zachrisson (1927–2021) is a key figure in Latin American art history, known for challenging aesthetic and political conventions through a powerful visual language: grotesque, sometimes unsettling, yet always deeply human. The film was made with the support of Panama's Ministry of Culture and its selection by the Fondo Cine Panamá, in the post-production category.
«El arte no sirve para nada, pero es imprescindible.»
AWARDS
- 01Winner · IDA Documentary Award 2025 · Best Original Music Score ↗
- 02Audience Award · IFF Panama 2025 ↗
- 03Audience Award · Costa Rica IFF (CRFIC) 2025 ↗
- 04Award of Distinction · 14th Global Festival of Journalism, Noida, India · 2026 ↗
PRESS
«Receiving the Audience Award is a dream come true for our entire team. Following one's calling, no matter how insane it might seem, is the path to creating something that truly connects.»
«An intimate, moving and irreverent portrait of one of the great Latin American artists of the 20th century.»
«A man full of stories, of humor, with an accent that neither the years nor the oceans could erase.»
«Best Original Music Score, 41st IDA Documentary Awards: Frédéric Filiatre, for The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson.»
«His work moved between painting, sculpture and printmaking, the discipline that secured his standing.»
«It is our responsibility, as Panamanians and as filmmakers looking to nourish Panamanian identity, to create bonds so that people find a connection with that identity.»
Trillo Guardia · to EFE · in SWI swissinfo.ch · 18 Nov 2025 →
«That invisible bond between people who love and inspire each other.»
MORE PRESS
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
In a quiet corner of his grandmother's living room, a young filmmaker encounters a mysterious painting. Its unsettling figures spark a curiosity that soon turns into obsession. The work, seemingly out of place among familiar objects, holds a story that calls to him. Driven to unravel its secrets, he embarks on a journey across the Atlantic to meet its creator: Julio Zachrisson.
A central figure in Latin American art, Zachrisson's work blends the grotesque with the beautiful, the mythical with the political. His imagery narrates a world in transformation, where memory intersects with myth and history becomes both burden and muse.
What begins as a simple attempt to understand the mind behind the artwork evolves into something far deeper. The encounter, initially meant to be brief, grows into a friendship that transcends age and context. Through intimate conversations and largely unseen archival material, the film becomes more than a portrait: it is a meditation on time, memory, and the fragile threads that connect us to the past.
As the filmmaker accompanies Zachrisson in his final years, he becomes aware of the fleeting nature of their shared time. Yet amid the melancholy, one certainty remains: Zachrisson's stories, like his art, will endure.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
The first time I saw a Zachrisson print, I thought it was the ugliest artwork ever created. Hanging in my grandmother's elegant living room, it clashed with everything else. It depicted a graphic scene of a woman defecating onto a plate while a hungry dog watched. I was 12 years old, and I will never forget the impact it had on me.
Zachrisson's imagery, grotesque yet enigmatic, invited me to explore a world beyond the obvious. And isn't that the purpose of art? To unsettle us, to stir something deep within, to challenge what we think we know.
That moment sparked a question: who was Julio Zachrisson? That curiosity soon became an obsession. In 2015, I set out to find him. When we met, he was already in the twilight of his life and had lost his sight, yet his humor and enigmatic personality deeply moved me.
On December 18, 2021, Julio passed away. His death marked a turning point in the film, leading us to refocus the narrative as a tribute to his life and work. His legacy, an indelible mark on Panamanian and Latin American history, is the torch I committed to carry forward through this film.
I want audiences to feel the same shock and fascination I felt when I first encountered his work: to question their perceptions and dare to look beyond the surface.
Trillo Guardia · Director
THE ARTIST
Julio Zachrisson
Painter, printmaker & graphic artist · 1927–2021
Born in Panama in 1927 and died in Madrid in 2021, Julio Zachrisson was one of the great masters of Latin American printmaking. Across six decades of work he kept a singular voice: that of a migrant artist who looked at the history of humanity and of society with a critical eye.
Zachrisson exhibited in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and his work is held by institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid), MoMA (New York) and MAC Panamá. His work, powerful, grotesque, playful and deeply critical, built a visual universe of mythologies, fantastical characters and scenes of Latin American life, always crossed by the spirit and the irony of his Panamanian roots.
THE VINYL
- Original score
- Frédéric Filiatre
- Published by
- ANIMAL
- Edition
- 100 copies · 250 g vinyl
- Available on
- Digital platforms
BEHIND THE SCENES
PART OF A TRANSMEDIA PROJECT: ZACHRISSON LEGACY
El Brujo is one piece of a wider effort to bring out and preserve Julio Zachrisson's legacy.
- Toro VolanderoAn animated feature that explores and reinterprets Zachrisson's graphic universe. In production, to be completed in 2027.
- Zachrisson100To browse more than 450 digitized works by the artist.
- Interactive exhibitionsFor museums and galleries.
STILLS
