Skip to main content
Utama film image, director Alejandro Loayza Grisi

Utama

This event has passed

Set against the spectacular high sierra of the Bolivian Andes, this strikingly shot first feature from photographer Alejandro Loayza Grisi is the tale of an old man—a Quechua llama farmer—staring death in the face and refusing to blink. Drought shrouds the dirt-poor terrain, the nearest village is on course to become a ghost town as one family after another abandons it for the city, and wife Sisa has to walk further and further to bring back water, but Virginio refuses to budge from the mud hut which is the only house he’s ever known or needed. (In the Quechua language, “utama” means “home”.) The return of their grandson Clever—with his modern ideas—challenges Virginio’s authority, but the filmmaker’s own sympathies seem evenly balanced.

Loayza Grisi gives us an authentic snapshot of a remote corner of the world, and a different way of thinking about mortality. Stellar work by cinematographer Barbara Alvarez (The Headless Woman) and the dignified performances from real-life couple José Calcina and Luisa Quispe (both non-professional actors) ensure Utama lingers in the mind.

 

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Sundance 2022

 

Community Partner

 

Director
Cast

José Calcina, Luisa Quispe, Santos Choque

Credits
Country of Origin

Bolivia/Uruguay/France

Year

2022

Language

In Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
87 min
Award Winners Drama Human Rights & Social Justice

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

After Life

Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
119 min

This month's Talking Pictures title is a profoundly beautiful meditation on memory and happiness from Japan, the second feature film by the acclaimed writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Checkpoint Zoo

Dir. Joshua Zeman
107 min

The amazing true story of the rescue of thousands of animals trapped on the frontline at an Ecopark when Russia invades Ukraine in 2022.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Frankenstein

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
149 min

Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro might have been made for each other. The movie does not disappoint, a ripping yarn of grand adventure, spectacle, hubris, passion and XXL body parts, a tale of the fantastic that rings the imagination. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Predators

Dir. David Osit
96 min

"Punk'd for pedophiles." That's what Jimmy Kimmel called Chris Hansen's true crime/reality TV show, To Catch a Predator (2004-07). Two decades on, David Osit examines why the show made such an impact, for good or ill, and sits down with Hansen himself.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

You Are Not My Mother

Dir. Kate Dolan
93 min

One of the best horror films of recent years, from anywhere, Kate Dolan's film finds a chilling angle on a mother-daughter relationship.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Fréwaka

Dir. Aislinn Clarke
103 min

A Dublin nurse is sent to a remote Irish village to care for a reclusive woman. Haunted by a dark past, her night terrors invade her reality. Aislinn Clarke delivers a chilling, feminist folk horror that favours atmosphere over jump scares.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Credits

Executive Producer

Marcos Loayza

Producer

Santiago Loayza Grisi, Federico Moreira

Cinematography

Barbara Alvarez

Editor

Fernando Epstein

Original Music

Cergio Prudencio

Art Director

Valeria Wilde

Director

Alejandro Loayza Grisi headshot, Utama director

Photo by Michael Dunn

Alejandro Loayza Grisi

Alejandro Loayza Grisi is a Bolivian filmmaker who began his artistic career in still photography and entered the world of cinema through cinematography. As a director of photography, he has worked on the documentary series Planeta Bolivia (2016) and on the short films, Polvo (2017), Dochera (2018), and Aicha (2019). He ventures into scriptwriting and directing with his first feature film, Utama.