The Great Movement

Winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Horizons strand at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, The Great Movement is a fascinating and unique examination of the plight of the working class in the Bolivian capital of La Paz. Director Kiro Russo fashions a fever dream of his home city, using non-professional actors and filming in a semi-documentary style; The Great Movement is a haunting, intoxicating and wonderfully surprising experience that plants Russo firmly on the map as a rare and intriguing talent.

In present-day Bolivia a young miner, Elder, makes a week-long trek to La Paz to demand the reinstatement of his and his fellow workers’ jobs. Once in the big city, Elder suddenly falls ill, deteriorating quickly, he enlists the aid of a mysterious herbalist who promises to use otherworldly magic to pull him from the brink.