What begins as a one-way ticket and a motorbike in Alaska evolves into one of the most moving documentaries of the year. Award-winning Australian filmmaker Matty Hannon spent over 16 years capturing The Road to Patagonia—a deeply personal, poetic exploration of human connection, love, and ecological truth. Now the highest-grossing documentary in Australia and New Zealand, it’s a story that proves vulnerability, not spectacle, is what truly resonates.
What sparked your decision to trade city life for a 50,000km journey into the unknown—and what did that first step feel like?
The spark came in the form of an impulsive desire to break the trajectory I could see myself on while working and living in the city. Prior to that city life I’d lived in the remote Sumatran rainforest for many years, but upon returning to Australia to figure my life out, it felt like the system was close to swallowing my soul. So, after working hard for a couple of years, I took my modest savings and bought a one-way ticket and a motorcycle in Alaska.
The first step felt exhilarating – until I was actually camping amongst the bears in Alaska, and then I was terrified and regretful of my decision to leave my comfortable life behind… but that regret was only temporary…
Filming over 16 years is no small feat. How did your relationship with the camera—and with yourself—evolve during that time?
There were two main stints of filming over that period. One in remote Sumatra, Indonesia and one in the Americas. I saw the camera as creative outlet most of the time – I loved wildlife filming for example – with no real idea of what I was going to make at the end. I never did any vlogging and social media reels weren’t really a thing then. I really just loved filming things and building a story in my head – but when the trip finished, I was left with a mountain of footage and had no idea how to turn it into anything!
The filmmaking evolved a lot when Heather entered the picture – suddenly we were a team, it was way better – but also became the hardest and most conflicting thing in our relationship.
You’ve described the film as a ‘small antidote to the heaviness of the world.’ Was there a moment on the journey that made you truly believe that?
I think what I meant by that is that we hoped to have made an uplifting and honest film, something that dives deeply into what it means to be human in this day and age, but not preoccupied with divisive daily politics. My mentor for the edit kept encouraging me to reflect on which scenes, stories and messages felt truthful – we really tried to keep ‘truth’ as our orienting needle of the process.
The entire horse experience took us out of a normal existence and connected us deeply to the land and Chilean people – it was challenging for sure, but incredibly rewarding and uplifting.
From Zapatista rebels to Amazonian shamans, your encounters are as layered as the landscapes. How did these experiences reshape your worldview?
Coming from a ‘developed’ and economically dominant country such as Australia tends to imbue a sense of superiority within our societies, where we think of ‘the global south’ or ‘developing’ nations or communities as being somehow lesser. Science and technology can often reinforce those prejudices. The trip and subsequent interactions with people and communities along the way held a mirror up to my own culture, and it made me think deeply about the social and environmental inequalities in our world – what was really at the heart of it all.
Meeting Heather turned your solo trip into something deeper. How did love and partnership change the emotional stakes of the film?
Having Heather along changed everything. It quite literally changed my life. I think when love’s at stake, then the stakes are high, no matter the context. I tried to layer the film with a few different love stories, one about a man and a woman, one about a horse called Harimau and his journey, and one about our collective humanity and planet earth. 2 of them had happy endings – one of them… well, we’ll see I guess.
The Road to Patagonia has become Australia’s highest-grossing documentary this year. Why do you think this story is resonating right now?
I think people resonate with it because it’s vulnerable and personal, without any marketing veneer. It was made on the fumes of an oily rag, but made over an incredibly long time, with care, which in todays society of constant consumption and obsolescence is kind of refreshing. To be honest, I have no idea what the ‘magic ingredient’ is, I’m just really grateful that people are enjoying the story and themes and can take something meaningful or inspirational away for themselves.
Environmental storytelling is often heavy—but your film carries hope. How do you strike that balance between truth and optimism?
I’m really glad you’ve found hope in it. It’s a tricky balance isn’t it. The rational or statistical truth of our collective Earth-bound trajectory is depressing, if you’re paying attention. But the beauty of being human is that we’re not just rational bean-counters, we’re also an ancient and adaptive species that for 99% of our existence has understood the kinds of wisdom needed to face our problems. It’s only relatively lately on our evolutionary path that we’ve lost the plot. I have hope that we can go in search of that wisdom again, to listen, to reframe our cultural and economic story.
Now that you’ve made it to Patagonia, what does your idea of ‘home’ look like today—and would you ever do it all again?
I now live on small farm with a few horses in the paddocks and a couple of kids in our tiny house, surrounded by National Park and close to the ocean. I feel very grateful that the road to Patagonia helped steer us here.
xxx
The Road to Patagonia will be available exclusively on the Icon Film Channel from 30th May, in select UK Cinemas from 27th June and on Home Entertainment from 28th July
