Colonia

Colonia (released in the UK as The Colony) is a 2015 historical thriller film directed by Florian Gallenberger, produced by Benjamin Herrmann, written by Torsten Wenzel and Gallenberger, and starring Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl, and Michael Nyqvist. The film is set against the backdrop of the 1973 Chilean military coup and the Colonia Dignidad, a notorious cult in the South of Chile, led by German lay preacher Paul Schäfer. Colonia is an international co-production of companies in the UK, Germany, Luxembourg, and France. Principal photography began on 2 October 2014 in Luxembourg; filming also took place in Germany and Argentina. Colonia held its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentations section. The film was released in Germany on 18 February 2016, in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2016, and in France on 20 July 2016. Plot In 1973, Lena is a strong, independent and adventurous Lufthansa stewardess and is in relationship with Daniel, a West German journalist and activist living in Chile. Upon arrival in Santiago, she reunites with him and they spend their days in the capital peacefully. One day, the two become entangled in a Chilean military coup at a time when supporters of deposed President Salvador Allende are getting rounded up by the military under General Augusto Pinochet. When Daniel is abducted by Pinochet's secret police DINA, Lena tries to find and save him. The pursuit leads her to "Colonia Dignidad", an isolated secret organisation living in a sealed-off rural farmland and enclave near the Andes mountains. The organisation presents itself as a charitable mission run by Paul Schäfer, a former Wehrmacht colonel and army medic who evaded capture and trial following World War II by disguising himself as a Lutheran pastor and lay minister, later fleeing to Chile to build the organisation.