We got to see the Emma Watson and Daniel Bruhl-led film Colonia at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, but audiences will have to wait until April to see it. In the meantime, a new trailer has hit web, featuring the story that plays out in the backdrop of the Cold War in 1973 Chile when general-turned-dictator Augusto Pinochet came into power, thanks to a military coup.
It’s during this time that Daniel (Bruhl) is abducted by his secret police and held in Colonia Dignidad, which presents itself as a religious community led by a preacher named Paul Schäfer (Michael Nyqvist). Behind closed doors, it employed torture and was later revealed to have Nazi ties. This is what Daniel’s wife, Lena (Watson), infiltrates to find him, risking her life in the process.
Watch the trailer, released by Yahoo Movies, below.
Florian Gallenberger, who won an Oscar in 2001 for his short film Quiero ser (I want to be…), directs Colonia from a script he co-wrote with Torsten Wenzel. The cast is rounded out by Richenda Carey (Separate Lies), Vicky Krieps (A Most Wanted Man), Julian Ovenden (Downton Abbey), August Zirner (The Counterfeiters), and Martin Wuttke (Inglourious Basterds).
Colonia will hit select theaters and VOD on April 15th.
Inspired by true events, COLONIA tells the story of Lena and Daniel, a young couple, who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973. Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena tracks him to a sealed off area in the South of the country, called Colonia Dignidad. The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by lay preacher Paul Schäfer but, in fact, is a place nobody ever escaped from. Lena decides to join the cult in order to find Daniel.
