Canadian Premiere
Santiago Lozano Álvarez’s second feature is an assured, quietly profound drama that sees an elder embark on a final journey into the jungle to settle a spiritual debt and reconnect with his late son. On his way, he is challenged by individuals and situations that test his resolve. Jesús María Mina commands the screen with dignified fortitude as one of the last healers practicing traditional burial rites. In his mystical terms, the voyage marks the ultimate bow to the sacred line of ancestral clairvoyance and secrets of the shamanic trade.
Elegantly shot with moments of arresting portraiture, the film immerses one into the depths of the lush Colombian rainforest, flooding the senses with its alluring rhythms and sounds. It unfolds as a cinematic love letter to the disappearing spiritual traditions unique to the people of these lands, highlighting regional intricacies and communities trying to make peace with ghosts of its colonial past.
Oct 4: Q&A with director Santiago Alvarez Lozano
Presented by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Jesús María Mina, Julián Ramirez, Carol Hurtado, John Alex Castillo
Colombia/Mexico/
France/Germany
2024
In Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Ana María Ruiz Navia, Oscar Ruiz Navia
Screenwriter
Santiago Lozano Álvarez, Fernando del Razo
Cinematography
Juan Velásquez
Editor
Ana García, Santiago Lozano Álvarez
Production Design
Marcela Gómez
Original Music
Nidia Góngora
Santiago Lozano Álvarez
Santiago Lozano Álvarez has a degree in Social Communications from Universidad del Valle Cali-Colombia and a master’s degree in Script for Film and TV from Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. He is currently a professor in the film school at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente. He has made several documentary shorts before his feature fiction debut, Siembra, co-directed with Ángela Osorio (premiered at Locarno Film Festival, Filmmakers of the Present 2015 and winner of Best Film at Cinélatino Toulouse 2016). He was part of the Cannes Cinéfondation Residency in 2018 to develop Yo vi tres luces negras.
Filmography: Siembra (2015)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Joan Crawford in... Letty Lynton
This would be your first chance to see one of Joan Crawford's prime pre-Code films since 1936, a salacious melodrama about a socialite (Joan Crawford) accused of poisoning her ex lover.
Jack Johnson: Surfilmusic
This new documentary chronicles Jack Johnson's evolution from surfer to filmmaker to world-renowned musician. The film traces how Jack's early years making surf films with close friends became a foundation for a much broader creative life.