Donkey Princess
2026

Donkey Princess

Australian Premiere.

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.

Director

Joaquín Cociña
Cristóbal León

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

ChileFranceGermanyNetherlands & Uruguay

Language

Spanish

Subtitles

English

Type

Feature Fiction

Program Strand

Feature Fiction Competition

Producer

Catalina Vergara

Writer

Alejandra MoffatCristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña

Cinematographer

Benjamín Echazarreta

Editor

Maria Salazar & Soledad Salfate

Cast

Andrew BargstedAntonia Giesen & Francisco Melo

Music

Jean-Benoît Dunckel

Film Source

Bendita Film Sales

Genre

Avant-gardeExperimentalFantasy & Romance

Purchase Tickets