Daily Recommendation: DARK SKULL

In light of the global pandemic, Cinema Tropical is committed to create new and flexible initiatives to provide meaningful, relevant, and inspiring content during these adverse times. As numerous filmmakers and platforms are making available content online during the emergency, we're starting a new section in our TropicalFRONT blog recommending a different film per day to watch for free online.

Selected as one of the year’s Best Latin American Films in Cinema Tropical’s 2017 Shortlist, Bolivian film Dark Skull / Viejo calavera is the debut feature by director Kiro Russo. Winner of 27 international film awards. The film is a hybrid work set in the uniquely rough world of the Bolivian mines and is a potent character drama and an idiosyncratic portrait of workers’ daily lives.

The film follows  Elder Mamani, who is forced to live with his grandmother—far from the city—to stay away from trouble after his father has died, He has to learn to be a  worker. His godfather, Francisco has to take care of Elder’s acceptance in the mining company. Francisco and Elder end up working together, but Elder skips work daily.Francisco endures this grudgingly. His co workers mock him because of the behavior of his godson.

When Francisco finds Elder lost in the smokey alleys about to be blasted, he leaves him alone there, because of his survival, the miners that rescue him see him as an amulet of good luck. Now the miners have to travel together to the tropic, in which context the conflict between Elder and Francisco unravels.

DARK SKULL / VIEJO CALAVERA
A film by Kiro Russo
(Bolivia/Quatar, 2016, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) 

Watch the film (available for streaming for free through March 31, 2020):

Ópera prima del realizador Boliviano KIRO RUSSO estrenada el 2016 ganadora de 27 premios internacionales. Sinopsis After his father dies, Elder is forced to live with his grandmother – far away from the city – and learn to be a worker. His godfather, Francisco, helps Elder find his place in a mining company, and the two end up working together. Elder, however, skips work daily. Francisco grudgingly endures this, and his co-workers mock him because of Elder’s behavior. They also seem to know some dark secrets about Francisco’s relationship with Elder’s deceased father – and Elder is curious to know more. When Francisco finds Elder lost in a tunnel that is about to be blasted, he leaves him there – but because Elder survives, the miners see him as good luck. When the miners have to travel far away, the conflict between Elder and Francisco unravels. Kiro Russo Director, producer and scriptwriter Kiro Russo was born in La Paz, and studied directing at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. He made the short films ‘Enterprisse’ (2010), ‘Juku’ (2012) and ‘New Life’ (2015), winning prices at significant film festivals including the Festival del Film Locarno, the San Sebastian Film Festival, IndieLisboa, the Festival Internacional de Cine Unam, the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and the Kaohsiung Film Festival, among many others. Russo’s earlier works have a very close relationship to his first feature-length film ‘Dark Skull’, which is now in post-production