Through Rocks and Clouds
An eight-year-old alpaca shepherd, elated because Peru has a chance to qualify for the 2018 World Soccer Cup, finds his quiet world in peril when a mining company threatens to poison the water, destroy the region’s delicate ecosystem, and jeopardize the life and future of his community.
In the altiplano near the Andes, a herd of alpacas' peaceful grazing is interrupted only by the spotty radio transmission of a soccer match. Peru is very close to qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in decades and eight-year-old Feliciano could not be happier with this news. He lives in a remote village with his family, and roams the mountains with two companions by his side—a young alpaca named Ronaldo after the famous soccer star, and his dog Rambo. He spends his days “chatting” with them about local spirits and myths but also discusses soccer strategies and the odds of his national team getting its ticket to Russia. But his quiet world is shaken when the company mining close to Feliciano’s village threatens to poison the water, destroy the region’s delicate ecosystem, and jeopardize the life and future of his community. With breathtaking cinematography by Johan Carrasco, a script by Annemarie Gunkel and Alicia Quispe, and directed by Cusco native Franco García Becerra, Through Rocks and Clouds is a sensitive portrayal of an indigenous community in peril as seen through the candid eyes of his protagonist, Feliciano, charmingly played by young natural actor Alberth Merma. The magnificence of this part of the world and the resilience of its rightful inhabitants are evidently clear but so are their fleeting and extremely fragile existence. —Hebe Tabachnik
- Original Language Title: Raíz
- Director: Franco Garcia Becerra
- Principal Cast: Alberth Merma, Nely Huayta, Richard Taipe, Jose Merma, Ruben Huillca
- Premiere Status: U.S.
- Country: Peru, Chile
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 83 min.
- Producer: Diego Sarmiento, Jorge Constantino, Annemarie Gunkel, Franco García Becerra, Juan Francisco González
- Screenplay: Annemarie Gunkel, Alicia Quispe
- Cinematographers: Johan Carrasco
- Editors: Franco García Becerra, Juan Francisco González
- Music: Daniel Castro
- Awards: Berlin Film Festival 2024 (Special Mention, Grand Prix for Best Film in Generation Kplus)
- Filmography: Southern Winds (2018)
- Language: Quechua, Spanish
- International Sales: Luxbox