Chile’s ‘Erratics,’ Blending Denis Lavant, Speculative Fiction and Ghost Cinema, Bows at San Sebastián New Directors Competition

Blending speculative fiction, ghost cinema and Patagonian hauntology, Chilean Thomas Woodroffe’s debut feature “Erratics” (“Bloques erráticos”) holds its world premiere at the San Sebastian Festival’s New Directors sidebar.

It tracks the ghost of French filmmaker Lucien Castelnau who wakes up in the stunning landscapes of Patagonia where he has spent a century trapped inside a glacier. “As he wanders through a technological society built upon the remnants of forgotten histories, he encounters traces of indigenous memory, displaced communities and visions of a world that no longer resembles the one he left behind,” the synopsis goes, exploring “what becomes of images, memories and artworks that fail to find their audience…. can a film truly exist if it is never seen?”

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“Like an erratic boulder carried by ice and abandoned in a place where it does not belong, Lucien becomes a wanderer between times, searching for meaning, recognition, and a place for his unfinished legacy,” it says.

Castelnau is played by French actor Denis Lavant (“Beau Travail”) whose evocative voiceover adds to the haunting imagery of the film.

The origins of “Erratics” lie in an unexpected act of serendipity, says Woodroffe. “Six years ago, a friend told me about an academic research on ancient photographs of Patagonia. When I asked her to send it to me, she got confused and sent me the wrong paper. The research was about a recent discovery of the ethnographic documentary ‘La Terre de Feu’ (1925), at La Cinémathèque de Toulouse. This serendipity was the starting point of ‘Erratics.’”

Reflecting on the film’s spirit, Woodroffe says: “I believe in the possibility of cinema to be a ghost, to invoke voices from remote times and bring them back to life in the present.”

As a director, screenwriter, cinematographer and colorist, Woodroffe has sought to bridge filmmaking and film preservation. He first broke out with his short “Astral Fever,” which had its world première at 1976 Biennale, and won a special mention in the Nest competition at San Sebastián. He served as cinematographer on Diego Céspedes’ “The Summer of the Electric Lion,” a Grand Prize winner at Cannes’ Cinéfondation. He has been pursuing a Master’s degree in Film Preservation at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastián.

Paris-based MPM Premium handles the international sales of “Erratics,” bolstering the company’s commitment to some of the most original voices in modern-day Latin American cinema. Recent titles it has represented include “Rains Over Babel” (Sundance 2025), “The Red Hangar” (Berlinale Perspectives 2026) and “The Riverbank“ (“A Margem do Rio,” Locarno Competition 2026).

Says Natalia Isotta, head of festivals & Ibero-American sales at MPM Premium: “As a sales company, our work is to help films find their audience. Rarely do we encounter a film that turns that very journey into the heart of its own story.”

“Erratics” is produced by Fiebre SpA (Chile), La Belle Affaire Productions (France) and Un Puma (Argentina). Aside from Lavant, the cast includes Francesca Bozzano, Dominique Legoupil, Reinaldo Caro, Daniel Muñoz, and distinguished film directors Dominga Sotomayor (“La Perra”) and Felipe Gálvez (“The Settlers”).