5 min
El Gran Movimiento, by Kiro Russo
In El Gran Movimiento, Kiro Russo puts his home town of La Paz centre stage, evoking a familiar environment. Between realism and the supernatural, he captures the singularity of a place where men and women struggle to survive.
A director acclaimed by the industry
Born in La Paz in 1984, Kiro Russo began his film studies at the University of Buenos Aires. He directed, wrote and produced his own films and soon made four short films that won awards at various festivals around the world. His most promising works, Entreprisse, in 2010, and Juku, a year later, were screened at the Sundance Festival. His first feature film, Viejo Calavera in 2016, was selected for more than 80 festivals and won 23 prestigious awards, at Locarno, San Sebastián and BAFICI in particular. With the support of several writing residencies such as Tabakalera and Moulin d'Andé, he directed his second feature film, El Gran Movimiento, which he presented at the Venice International Film Festival in 2021.
A love letter to his home town
In El Gran Movimiento, Kiro Russo narrates the forced encounter between a suffering worker and a shaman, who he begs to cure him of an unknown evil. While he wanted to evoke the city of La Paz and its unusual location at an altitude of more than 3,600 metres, the filmmaker seeks to portray the smallest nooks and crannies of his home town to make the viewer feel its singular pulse. Through the dramatic fervour of his film, he delivers a powerful tribute to an environment he knows by heart by exploring the decline of his main character. Dark, but nonetheless brimming with life, the film captures a world in upheaval, but also the destinies tied to a city in constant motion.
Filming the invisible
Under the guise of social critique, El Gran Movimiento captures the bustle of a city that never stops living, even if it means letting its inhabitants wither away. It depicts the difficult working conditions and the bleak prospects for young people who hope to make a decent living. Kiro Russo works with the ambivalence of the sounds and the saturation of the images to embody this world in full decay. Through his feature film, profoundly realistic despite the temptation of the supernatural, he gives unprecedented visibility to the forgotten men and women, cast aside by the rest of the world.
Bolivia in the spotlight
Presented in the Orizzonti section during the 78th Venice International Film Festival in 2021, the film is expected to be released in 2022 with positive reviews and a real impact on the audience. Bolivia, absent from this event for 26 years, has once again had a taste of one of the world's most prestigious festivals thanks to Kiro Russo's film. The Best Friend Forever company has already acquired the film for international distribution at the time of its release.
El Gran Movimiento was supported by the Aide aux cinémas du monde fund. This Institut français programme provides support to foreign film-makers for film projects co-produced with France, whether they be feature-length fiction, animated films or creative documentaries. Find out more about the Aide aux cinémas du monde programme
The film also benefited from the support of La Fabrique Cinema. This programme promotes the emergence of young creation from Southern countries on the international market. Find out more about La Fabrique Cinéma programme