While await a proper release of Terrence Malick’s Voyage of Time, another documentary that looks at the awe and wonder of our world is, ahem, world premiering at the New York Film Festival. Cielo, the feature debut from Alison McAlpine (Second Sight), explores the heavens above the Andes and the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
Ahead of the world premiere next week, the first trailer has now arrived, which shows off stunning skyscapes and introduces the astronomers, fishermen, miners, and cowboys that take us on this journey. “Cielo itself is an act of reverence and awe, and its sense of wonder ranges from the intimate and human to the vast and inhuman,” says the official NYFF synopsis. Check out the preview below.
The first feature from Alison McAlpine, director of the beautiful 2008 “nonfiction ghost story” short Second Sight, is a dialogue with the heavens—in this case, the heavens above the Andes and the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, where the sky “is more urgent than the land.” McAlpine keeps the vast galaxies above and beyond in a delicate balance with the earthbound world of people, gently alighting on the desert- and mountain-dwelling astronomers, fishermen, miners, and cowboys who live their lives with reverence and awe for the skies. Cielo itself is an act of reverence and awe, and its sense of wonder ranges from the intimate and human to the vast and inhuman.
Cielo world premieres at the New York Film Festival.