In ‘Magic Farm’ Amalia Ulman Skewers Influencer Culture

After premiering at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Magic Farm – the sophomore film by artist and director Amalia Ulman – is released in cinemas in the UK on 16 May. Starring Chloë Sevigny and Alex Wolff, it follows a group of ‘content curators’ from New York as they fly around the world ‘reporting’ on crazy trends. The film marks a departure for Ulman, whose debut, El Planeta [The Planet, 2021], was made on a shoestring budget and featured non-professional actors, including herself and her mother, in central roles. 

Chloe Stead Magic Farm centres on a group of ‘journalists’ who are so self-absorbed that they miss the fact that the local people in the village where they are filming a ‘trend’ video are being poisoned by crop spraying. Where did this idea come from? It’s certainly an interesting set up for a comedy.

Amalia Ulman Many years ago, my mother and I were shocked to learn that members of our family were affected by glyphosates. When we researched more, we found it’s a problem throughout the Global South and anywhere with corrupt governments. This was in the back of my mind while I was working on El Planeta in 2018. I know a lot of people from the hipster journalism world and, when I put the two things together, it clicked. I felt using the crew as a crutch was a good idea because I know that world very well, but I didn’t feel comfortable making something only about Argentina because, although I was born in Buenos Aires, I’ve never really lived there.

CS Many of the characters in your films feel familiar – the Brooklyn soft boy, the philandering producer, the insecure actress – but their traits seem exaggerated.

AU I’ve met people like this in real life – I didn’t have to turn up the dial much. I think their traits are heightened because of their situation. At the beginning, they probably weren’t as bad, but they all go through so much shit that it makes them worse, which happens in real life, too.

CS After working with mostly untrained actors in El Planeta, you have some famous faces in Magic Farm, including Chloë Sevigny. How did you persuade her to be in your film?

AU I didn’t have to persuade anybody! Having the credentials of El Planeta was very helpful because all the actors involved in this production loved that film. They’re a very talented group and, as a director, it’s wonderful to see all those talents emerge in each scene. Chloë was a joy to work with, but my favourite experience was working with the Argentine actor Valeria Lois because she’s theatre trained and has so many tools at her disposal. It was a joy to see her bring scenes to life – not only for her character, but for everyone else, too.

CS You’re not a professional actor, although you have worked as a performance artist, most notably in the Instagram project Excellences & Perfections [2014]. Can you talk about your own process?

AU I’m not an actor and I’ll never be one. People like my mother are naturals. Whether they’re trained or not, those kinds of people get energy from being in front of the camera. I’m the opposite – it takes effort. Since I’m autistic, I find it easier to perform through technology. Before filming El Planeta, I had only performed alone. It’s a very different thing to suddenly have people watching you. But I am a natural director and producer: I can be exhausted, yet still find the energy to solve problems behind the scenes.

CS If it’s such a difficult process, why did you choose to cast yourself in your films?

AU I was originally going to cast actors for El Planeta, but once I realized my mom was the best option, I joined her because I felt she wouldn’t do as good a job opposite a stranger. So, a lot of these decisions come from a production and directorial standpoint. For Magic Farm, I play the best friend of Joe Apollonio’s character, since we’re friends in real life. Also, I was the only one who spoke both English and Spanish, so I translated within scenes.

CS El Planeta opened at Sundance to very positive reviews. Did that make filming Magic Farm easier?

AU Yes and no. El Planeta was a wonderful experience. It was the luckiest shoot: everything went according to plan and everyone had a great time making it. But I had never made a film before, so when I went knocking on doors for funding, many people turned me down. At the same time, one of the reasons it was such a great experience was because – as with all my successful works – I produced it completely on my own. I knew what I was doing and nobody was there to stop me.

Magic Farm was easier in some ways because I had the support of a lot of people that already knew I could make a film. But it was also harder because it was a more professional shoot, and a lot of my methods are considered unorthodox. There was a lot of fighting against a very stiff system of how to make movies. The bigger the budget, the less freedom the director has because there are more people saying, ‘Well, I put the money in, so I want it this way or that way.’

CS Your cinematography is quite unorthodox.

AU It was inspired by Gen X and hipster culture: the highly saturated skateboard videos – and Spanish films – of the 1990s. I was also looking to contemporary culture: TikTok videos made by attaching GoPro cameras to animals, for instance, and Albert Serra’s bullfighting documentary, Afternoons of Solitude [2024], which could only be made because the technology existed for him to attach tiny microphones to bulls that could operate for hours on end. I’m interested in weird ways of approaching storytelling, which is something that has been neglected in recent years. Everything has become very stiff, but that was not the case at the turn of the century.

CS Did your background as an artist help or hinder in making Magic Farm?

AU The same issues arise across disciplines. How are you going to prove something that’s never been done before? I think that’s a problem for anybody trying to do something new. That’s why nobody supported Excellence and Perfections at first. You can put a document together, you can try your best to explain it, but a lot of people need a solid example of something similar that was commercially successful. My background in fine arts has helped because it has given me the freedom to do whatever I want. In film school, you learn things a certain way. I’m very happy I don’t come from that world because it would limit me.

CS What do you see as the major differences between the two worlds?

AU My start in the art world was very traumatizing, especially for someone as young as I was. I was overexposed with no protection, no guidance, nothing. I wanted to change things when it came to filmmaking. In the very early stages of making El Planeta, I was very supported by lovely, serious people in the film world who have been my mentors, and I’ve been way more cautious.

CS What can you tell me about the next film you’re working on?

AU It’s based on a short story I wrote, The German Teacher [2024]. It’s set in Spain, where I grew up, and I’m excited to return. It’s going back my very deep interest in office culture and architecture, which are recurring themes in my practice. Everything I’ve done in video, installation and performance connects to my films.

Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm is released in cinemas in the UK on 16 May 2025.