Settlers (2021)

Filmed on the South Africa/Namibia border, with the arid desert landscape doubling for the inhospitable surface of Mars, Settlers centres on an isolated family battling the elements to survive on the Martian frontier, where the greatest threat remains their own kind.

The sci-fi drama stars Critics Choice winner Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project, The LEGO Movie 2), Teen Choice nominee Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary, The Crown), Sofia Boutella (Hotel Artemis, Atomic Blonde), Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Undoing, Ray Donovan) and Nell Tiger Free (Servant, Game of Thrones).

Directed by British director-producer Wyatt Rockefeller, the film’s South African crew included AMAA-, SAFTA- and Silwerskerm-winning South African director of photography Willie Nel (Knuckle City, The Story of Racheltjie De Beer​​).

“Rockefeller wisely abandons the fantasy of settling Mars in favour of contemplating the very real complications posed by life on an unestablished, uninhabited planet,” says The Wrap, while Variety says, “In the ranks of cinematic journeys to Mars, Settlers ranks among the less fancifully and lavishly invented, yet it’s all the more effective for its earthly restraint.”