Zama

Lucrecia Martel builds Zama's sound design as the film's true protagonist, layering insect drone, distant human voices and off-screen animal sounds so densely that dialogue often becomes just one competing element in the mix rather than the dominant track. Martel's sound team recorded extensive ambient location sound across Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, then built a mix where sounds frequently originate from outside the frame with no visual source ever confirmed, disorienting the viewer in the same way the colonial protagonist is disoriented by a land he cannot master. The film contains almost no traditional score; what functions as music emerges from source cues and manipulated ambient textures, a choice that keeps the colonial setting free of the swelling orchestral grandeur usual in period drama. Martel has spoken about designing sound before finalizing shots, treating audio as a structural element decided in preproduction rather than sweetened afterward. For sound designers, this shows how refusing score entirely, building tension through unresolved off-screen sound, can create dread more effectively than music ever could.

What to watch for

Listen for sounds, especially animal and human voices, that persist across a cut with no on-screen source ever revealed.

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