Santa, an eight-year-old Aymará girl, believes heaven is a place you can walk to. After her mother dies, she sets off across the desert with her mother’s body in tow, guided by stars, cassette sermons, and the fish she believes lives in her belly. Along the way, she meets Cholita wrestlers, a haunted police chief, and a condor that may or may not be real.

Bursting with astonishing visuals, colourful characters and fascinating ethnographic detail, Cielo is a surreal, magical journey of grief, faith, and spiritual transcendence set against a breath-taking backdrop of salt pans, mountains and piercing blue skies.

The screening on Sun 19 Oct will be followed by a Q&A with director Alberto Sciamma and cinematographer Alex Metcalf.

“Alberto Sciamma’s Cielo is a spiritually charged tale of miracles that needs to be experienced to be believed… one of the most life-affirming, visually jaw-dropping magical realist tales I’ve seen this decade” –  Loud And Clear Reviews

“A beautiful film, handsomely crafted and expertly acted, Cielo stuns with its sincerity and optimism in a world too often marred by pain” –  ScreenAnarchy

“Breathtaking landscapes, bravura cinematography and an engaging child lead – Screen Daily