'The little-known story of a French adventurer claiming to be king of Patagonia is told via a bold combination of formats brought together in this enjoyable avant-garde feature.' – Variety

In the mid 19th century, French adventurer Orélie-Antoine de Tounens journeyed to the far reaches of southern Chile, where he was improbably crowned king of Patagonia and is said to have united the native Mapuche. But how much of this fanciful tale was true?

Chilean director Niles Atallah uses this legend as a jumping off point for his own wild ride through the slippery storytelling of cinema, imagining the Frenchman's exploits as an avant-garde adventure film spliced together from multiple film stocks and narrative angles. Puppetry, masks and even historical footage abound, while parts of the film were literally buried for several years – Atallah filmed sequences on 35mm, 16mm and Super-8 stock in 2011 and then entombed them in his back yard, digging them up to observe the effects of time (and memory). The result is a wonderfully surreal experience somewhere between Baron Munchausen and Guy Maddin.

Winner of the Special Jury Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam.

'For the cinephile it offers a pleasingly poetic reflection on film as an emotionally rich artifact, subject to the passage of time just as memory itself is honeycombed with lacunae.' – Variety