Spanish director Alberto Sciamma brings his allegorical film, ‘Cielo,’ to Haifa Film Festival

Spanish-born UK-based director Alberto Sciamma presents his allegorical, magical-realist film 'Cielo' at the 42nd Haifa International Film Festival. The film follows a young Bolivian girl, Santa, on a journey from rural poverty toward a place she calls Heaven. Sciamma discusses the film's origins in a mental image, the challenges of filming in Bolivia's Altiplano, and working with local communities and a child actress.

Spanish-born UK-based director Alberto Sciamma brought his allegorical, magical-realist film 'Cielo' to the 42nd Haifa International Film Festival, where it had its Israeli premiere. The film follows a young Bolivian girl named Santa (Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda) who sets off from her rural home with only a fish for company, seeking a place she calls Heaven. Along the way she encounters a priest, indigenous female wrestlers, and a lonely policeman. Sciamma said the story grew out of his impressions of Bolivia after a friend's wife, Bolivian pianist Ana María Vera, suggested he visit. Filming took place in the Altiplano at 4,000 meters above sea level, where the production negotiated with Aymara community assemblies and paid for locations with bricks and replacement light bulbs. The director praised the Cholita wrestlers as 'an explosion of life' and described working with seven-year-old actress Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda as like working with an adult. Asked about attending the festival amid calls for a cultural boycott of Israel, Sciamma said he ignored both sides and followed his gut, stating that art transcends politics.