Co-Production
PonsonbyLand
Genre: Documentary
Format: Feature film
Release: August 2025
Director: Ramiro Cabrera
Producer: ASADORcine: Enrique Buchichio, Mariano Avellaneda
Co-producer: LA ZANJA producciones, QUILOMBO Productions, ATLANTICO content
Dop: Andrés Pittier
Country of origin: Uruguay, Belgium
Story Line
Documentary that traces the founding milestone of two nation-states that apparently have nothing in common, Uruguay and Belgium, through the pronouncement of a remote and unknown name... Lord Ponsonby.
Synopsis
In 1826 Lord Ponsonby was sent to South America by the British government to mediate in the war between present-day Brazil and Argentina. His actions led to the creation of the Eastern State of Uruguay as an independent country, a solution that no one had imagined before: the buffer zone.
With that success, Ponsonby applied the same solution to the rebellious provinces of the Southern Netherlands in 1830. The Kingdom of Belgium was born.
Are Uruguay and Belgium two sister countries, both children of the same unrecognized father?
What common factors were there between these two territories to justify the same solution?
Which of these similarities persist today?
How does one live in a buffer state, in the middle of larger and more relevant neighbors?
In this film, we will present a unique and documented view of untold stories, links and parallels between the two cultures that seem distant but are not. We investigate also contextual differences that define our identities.
Eva Moeraert, podcast creator and university teacher from Ghent (Belgium), embarks on the search for answers that in many cases will lead to new questions and personal interpellations. The questions will reach renowned historians, popular icons of sport and culture from each country, and ordinary people on the street; a journey through two countries based on questions about questions.
Ponsonby’s life and work are fascinating from any point of view. A man of Irish origins in the midst of British rule who lost his seat in Parliament and was sent away (rumor has it) because of King George IV’s jealousy over a mistress... Who knows if he was not creating in Uruguay and Belgium what he did not have for his homeland?
This documentary tries to go beyond the role of a man in History and two contingent countries: it is an invitation to think about the nationhood and national identities from new perspectives.
