“A heart of stone is replaced by a heart of flesh”
Indigenous eight- year-old Aymará child Santa(a mesmerizing Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda), is from Achiri, one of the highest and most desolate areas of the Bolivian Altiplano, where she tends a flock of llamas. Her father (Juan Carlos Aduviri) mistreats her mother, Paz, (Carla Arana) and his daughter with brutal violence and a total lack of warmth or compassion.
So, mother and daughter dance and make a pact to reach for the stars and cross the desert together, believing heaven to be a real place, so beautifully depicted in the paintings on the walls of their local chapel.
“We have to follow the stars to reach the sea…Not a dream but a place on the map of God beyond the stars.”
Listening to a vitriolic sermon by the local priest Jaime (Luis Bredow) on her cassette player, Santa’s belief is so strong that, when her mother dies, Santa is determined to take her mother’s body towards that heaven against all odds.
Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda as Santa
Right from the moment of her birth, magical happenings invade her space like spirits that have a life of their own: Milk flows from the cow’s udder like a mountain stream, a condor comes back to life and follows her, to protect or to harm, it is not clear, and, all the while, she is convinced there is a fish living in her belly that knows things.
Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda as Santa and Carla Arana as Paz
Lost in the desert she is rescued by a group of travelling Cholita wrestlers, in particular La Reina (Sasha Salaverry) with whom she develops a bond. When by what initially appears to be two brutal policemen, she is arrested (when her mother’s body is discovered in a barrel), she finds that Gustavo (Fernando Arze Echalar) the Chief of police, starts to believe she has special powers and, overwhelmed by his own painful past, he turns to her ‘magical’ presence to help him.
This story is not all plain sailing and warm, there are sudden acts of violence that are more akin to the grimmest of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales than myth or magical realism. There is a hard edge as Santa, staunch in her belief, leads her followers towards heaven.
Fernando Arze Echalar as Gustavo
Santa has the confidence of her beliefs and it is her ultimate strength. People around her are drawn in and her performance is both shocking and hypnotizing. The performance of Gustavo, her nemesis turned protector, is very moving and is a superb counterbalance to the events that are taking place around them.
Also, there is merit in the simplicity in the way “Cielo” has been filmed. The cinematography is superb as Alex Metcalfe captures the majestic landscapes of the Bolivian Altiplano (that lies at over 3700 metres above sea level) to huge effect and Sciamma uses these powerful images to frame this story with a sense of infinity, unreality, endless skies, mountains, and salt plains that never end.
How can this child ever reach her heaven: - “We must count the steps or we will never get there.”
Alberto Sciamma filming on the Altoplano Boliviano
Alberto Sciamma was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, His 1996 film, a kitsch fantasy comedy “Killer Tongue” (La Lengua Asesina) won him the Best Director Award at the Fantafestival. Even here, in this charming tale, he manages to include a gentle, if at times very black, humour.
“CIELO” IS BEING SCREENED AT THE SXSW 2025 FILM FESTIVAL
Friday 6th June at 8.45pm at Curzon Hoxton and Saturday 7th June at 3.10pm at Richmix.
Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A.
Tickets are on sale now at: sxswlondon.com/film-and-tv/cielo-c993ffc3
“CIELO” (2025) written and directed by Alberto Sciamma
CREW:
Producers: John Dunton- Downe, Alexa Waugh, Bettina Kadoorie and Alberto Sciamma /DOP: Alex Metcalfe / Sound Designer: Blair Jollands / Composers: Cergio Prudencio and Dave Graham/ Editor: Orlando Torres/
CAST: Casting: Yara Gutiérrez
Santa: Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda/ Gustavo: Fernando Arze Echalar/ La Rerina: Sasha Salaverry/ Paz ( mother) Carla Arana/ Julio ( Father) Juan Carlos Aduviri/ Priest Jaime: Luis Bredow/ Rodrigo: Cristian Mercado
