Princess Diana inhabits a Technicolor storybook world of gauchos, puppets and painted sets, until a magical bracelet offers escape. As fantasy fractures and new realities emerge, this shape-shifting Chilean tale asks whether freedom can ever release us from the bonds of love and obligation.

2026
Donkey Princess
Donkey Princess
Australian Premiere.
Director
Runtime
90 Minutes
Country
Chile, France, Germany, Netherlands, Uruguay
Classification
Unclassified 15+
Princess Diana (Antonia Giesen) inhabits a Technicolor storybook world of painted sets, gauchos, puppets and bursts of animation. Confined by her grieving father, she falls for the wandering Lalo (Andrew Bargsted), while a magical bracelet offers a path to freedom. But the stage-bound fantasy cannot hold. Diana is carried across different worlds and forms, where Lalo and her father recur in unexpected guises and the same bonds of love and obligation follow her. As handcrafted artifice gives way to something recognisably real, Donkey Princess turns the promise of escape inside out, asking what freedom means when our responsibilities to others remain. This shape-shifting Chilean tale premiered in competition at Locarno in 2026.
“A bold, visionary work of pure artistry.”
International Cinephile Society
“A mysterious, polymorphous and unclassifiable work.”
Cineuropa
Locarno
Film Credits
Director
Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León
Year
2026
Country
Chile, France, Germany, Netherlands & Uruguay
Language
Spanish
Subtitles
English
Type
Feature Fiction
Program Strand
Feature Fiction Competition
Producer
Catalina Vergara
Writer
Alejandra Moffat, Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña
Cinematographer
Benjamín Echazarreta
Editor
Maria Salazar & Soledad Salfate
Cast
Andrew Bargsted, Antonia Giesen & Francisco Melo
Music
Jean-Benoît Dunckel
Film Source
Bendita Film Sales
Genre
Avant-garde, Experimental, Fantasy & Romance
