Eight-year-old Santa (Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda) liberates her mother from the hands of an abusive father. Infused with the powers of a goldfish she swallowed whole, she sets off on a fantastical road trip toward a heaven in the sky she believes is as real as the ground beneath her. On her journey through the otherworldly Bolivian Altiplano, she tests the faith of a priest, befriends a troupe of cholita wrestlers, and clashes with a burnt-out cop grieving the death of his wife. Eyes firmly on the horizon, she leaves a trail of miracles in her wake and prompts her unlikely followers to question everything they believed was possible.
Shot on location in Bolivia with an eye-popping color palette, Spanish filmmaker Alberto Sciamma’s magical realist road movie bursts with empathy and wonder. Clint Worthington at RogerEbert.com calls it “a deeply sincere fantasy drama that can tug on even the firmest of heartstrings,” and Dennis Harvey at Variety praises its “considerable ambition, aesthetic beauty and bittersweet enchantment.”
Winner of 9 awards internationally, including Special Jury Award, Audience Award, and Best Cinematography at Fantasporto 2025; Best Cinematography at Fantasia 2025; and Best Film and Best Actor at ARFECine Buenos Aires 2025. Official Selection, SXSW London and Fantasia 2025.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Alberto Sciamma is a Barcelona-born filmmaker whose work explores themes of displacement, belonging, and the porous boundary between the real and the supernatural. His films are marked by a strong visual language and a recurring sense of the outsider’s gaze. His latest feature, Cielo, brings these elements together in a deeply personal story shaped by the landscapes of the Bolivian Altiplano.
Diana Vargas is a New York-based film programmer and television producer with more than two decades of experience championing Latin American and Ibero-American cinema. She is the Artistic Director of Havana Film Festival New York, founder of CortoCircuito Latino ShortFest, and co-founder of The Americas Film Festival New York (TAFFNY). A 16-time Emmy Award-winning producer, she serves as Senior Producer of CUNY-TV’s Nueva York and co-created LATiNAS.
Monica Castillo is the film critic for The A.V. Club and a freelance film programmer based in New York City. Her work has appeared in NPR, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, KCRW, and RogerEbert.com. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, Critics’ Choice Association, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Fernando Arze Echalar trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and is one of Bolivia’s most acclaimed stage and screen actors. In CIELO, he plays Gustavo, a weary police chief grieving the death of his wife. His performance has earned Best Actor awards at ARFECINE (Argentina, 2025), Fantaspoa (Brazil, 2026), and FicPunta (Uruguay, 2026).
Orlando Javier Torres is a Puerto Rican filmmaker and editor based in New York. A Columbia University MFA graduate, his work has screened internationally, and he served as editor on CIELO, helping shape its distinctive rhythm and visual language.