CIELO is not just a film about death. It’s about the love that survives it, the promises that transcend it, and the dreams that shape it. Shot entirely in Bolivia, this poetic and emotionally layered tale follows Santa, an eight-year-old girl who embarks on a surreal odyssey across the desert to carry her mother’s body to a promised paradise. At the centre of this story is Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda, whose performance as Santa is nothing short of extraordinary.
Fernanda doesn’t act in the traditional sense. She feels. Under the careful guidance of director Alberto Sciamma, she taps into something deeply intuitive and honest. In rehearsals, she was asked not to understand the story intellectually, but to live it emotionally. The result is a performance of rare vulnerability. Her eyes carry the weight of loss, her silences speak louder than words, and every movement is charged with sincerity. What makes her portrayal even more compelling is that, as Sciamma explained, those emotions were real, Fernanda connected to the heart of the character, channeling her own feelings into Santa’s journey.
Visually, CIELO unfolds like a dream. The Bolivian Altiplano becomes a sacred stage for a story that blends magical realism with grounded emotion. Cinematographer Alex Metcalfe uses natural light and stillness to highlight the spiritual weight of the landscape. But even amid these vast, painterly compositions, it’s Fernanda who remains the emotional core. Whether facing cholita wrestlers or sharing quiet scenes with a gruff policeman who begins to believe in her, she holds the screen with an effortless presence.
Alberto Sciamma has created his most intimate work, one born from grief and shaped by wonder. Inspired by the death of his own mother, the story of CIELO emerged not from plot, but from images that haunted him, ones he chose to explore with pure emotion rather than logic. The result is a film that feels timeless, both deeply personal and surprisingly universal.
CIELO is not afraid to be quiet, or strange, or soft. It trusts in the emotional intelligence of its audience and offers something rare: a story told through the eyes of a child, with the wisdom of someone who has loved and lost. It’s a film to be felt more than explained and thanks to Fernanda Gutiérrez Aranda, it leaves a lasting imprint.
