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Utama review: An unsettling look at climate change in Bolivia

The threat of climate change permeates this visually stunning, memorable film about a couple living through drought in the Bolivian highlands

By Elle Hunt

23 November 2022

Utama director: Alejandro Loayza Grisi Film 2022

Utama is visually stunning, with dramatic shots of the arid horizon

Conic

Utama

Alejandro Loayza Grisi

On limited release in cinemas

LIFE in the highlands of Bolivia, more than 3500 metres above sea level, has always been at the mercy of the elements.

Virginio and Sisa have lived on the Andean plateau of western Bolivia all their lives, in a modest mud house without electricity or running water, tending to livestock and growing crops in one of the most exposed environments on Earth.

It is a precarious existence, but with many decades of experience and generations of knowledge handed down…

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