Bolivia has chosen Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Bolivian eco-drama Utama as their official submission to the 95th Academy Awards, it was announced today. Kino Lorber will release Utama theatrically in the United States, starting at Film Forum in New York City on November 4.
Utama is the debut feature by Bolivian photographer turned filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi and is shot by veteran cinematographer Barbara Álvarez (Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman). Utama made its World Premiere in the 2022 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Competition, where it won the Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and has gone on to screen at the Göteborg Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, SFFILM, and Melbourne International Film Festival, among others. Utama will be the fourteenth Bolivian entry to the Academy Awards.
Set in the arid Bolivian highlands, Utama tells the story of an elderly Quechua couple that has been living a tranquil life for years. While he takes their small herd of llamas out to graze, she keeps house and walks for miles with the other local women to fetch precious water. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything they know, Virginio and Sisa must decide whether to stay and maintain their traditional way of life or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city.
Their dilemma is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news. The three of them must face, each in their own way, the effects of a changing environment, the importance of tradition, and the meaning of life itself.
