Best Bolivian movies
A curated collection of popular movies from Bolivia.
Utama (2022)
Utama (2022)
In the Bolivian altiplano, Virginio and Sisa, an elderly Quechua couple who have lived a quiet life for years, face an impossible dilemma during an unusually long drought: resist or be defeated by the hostile environment and the relentless passage of time.
I Miss You (2019)
I Miss You (2019)
Following his son Gabriel’s death, Jorge travels from conservative Bolivia to New York City to confront Gabriel’s boyfriend Sebastian. While the two battle over Jorge’s inability to accept his son, Sebastian channels his grief into a bold new play in honor of his lost love, in which Gabriel’s inner turmoil is transformed into an eye-popping gay fantasia.
Willaq Pirqa, the Cinema of My Village (2022)
Willaq Pirqa, the Cinema of My Village (2022)
Sistu and her small community in the Andes discover the magic of cinema. This meeting causes a stir but also confronts them with their culture and highlights the limitations of the community to understand and read Spanish. As a solution, they choose Sistu so that every week he goes to town to see a movie and tells it to everyone in the square.
The Plagues (2024)
The Plagues (2024)
During his last night on La Paz, a detective looking for a criminal visits four different zones of the city. On these zones, with their characters and situations, the detective faces enemies that represent the mythological plagues that struck the Uru nation, beasts defeated by the Condor. The detective sees himself as the Condor.
Southern District (2009)
Southern District (2009)
In La Paz -as opposed to many other cities- the rich live below, which is the Southern District. Life goes on without major mishaps in a large house surrounded by a beautiful garden. It is a wonderful world, a great bubble of comfort, where different personal spheres coexist: the mother, along with her three children and the Aymara inhabitants of the house. The drama surfaces slowly, without narrative ploys, observing day-to-day activities until internal and external forces make the bubble burst. The film relates the story of the final days of an upper-class family, at a time when the country is undergoing social changes.
The Secret Nation (1989)
The Secret Nation (1989)
In this Bolivian story, a man remembers his life while on a journey which will help him expiate his sins and which will result in his death. The focus on the story is on a man who has betrayed everyone he knows. He is planning to perform an ancient ritual dance which will end with his life being taken. He journeys from where he was living back to the village where most of the people he wronged still live. As he journeys, carrying his distinctive dance costume, his story is told in flashbacks. Once he gets there, he gets involved in the affairs of the villagers once more.
Daughter of the Lake (2015)
Daughter of the Lake (2015)
At the height of the Peruvian gold rush, Nélida, an Andean woman able to communicate with water spirits, uses her powers to prevent a mining corporation from destroying the body of water she considers her mother. A gold deposit valued at billions of dollars lies just beneath Nélida’s lakes and leads farmers and Latin America’s biggest gold producer into conflict.
Wangdrak's Rain Boots (2018)
Wangdrak's Rain Boots (2018)
It’s the rainy season in the Tibetan highlands. It’s good for the crops, but bad for Wangdrak. He’s the only boy in his village who doesn’t own a pair of rain boots – and the other children tease him about it. His father has no money to buy any boots, plus he has other worries: there’s a dispute among the farmers. Secretly, his mother swaps a goat skin for a new pair of light blue boots. But when Wangdrak proudly wears them to school the next day, the children laugh at him again because it has stopped raining and the sun is shining. At least Wangdrak can count on his best friend Lhamo. Set in the vast mountains of Tibet this film affectionately portrays the story of a young boy’s dreams which are bound by the traditional structures of rural life.
The Thousand Year Journey (2015)
The Thousand Year Journey (2015)
Routine is the enemy of time. Jedidiah Jenkins rides his bicycle from Oregon to Patagonia, the southern tip of South America, while expounding upon ideas that made him leave a job he loved for the open road.
Der Pfad des Kriegers (2008)
Der Pfad des Kriegers (2008)
Die Geschichte von Michael, dem Ministranten aus S‚dtirol, der in Bolivien zu Comandante Miguel wird. Als angehender Priester will Michael noch friedlich gegen Armut kƒmpfen, f‚r die Verzweifelten, f‚r mehr soziale Gerechtigkeit. Doch mit 29 Jahren geht er in den Untergrund und entf‚hrt einen Industriellen. Bei der Befreiungsaktion erschiesst ihn die Polizei.
Engaño a primera vista (2016)
Engaño a primera vista (2016)
Two extremely nerdy brothers are hell-bent on winning the laptop of their dreams, but in order to do so they must, in only 48 hours, get a kiss from two gorgeous girls who are completely out of their league.
American Visa (2005)
American Visa (2005)
After being denied an American visa, a Bolivian professor becomes involved in a web of criminal activities, holds-up the American consulate and falls for a beautiful prostitute from the Bolivian lowlands.
Forgotten (2014)
Forgotten (2014)
José, a Bolivian retired general, is lying on his deathbed after a heart attack. Tormented by memories of his involvement in Operation Condor and invaded by deep remorse, he decides to tell his only son his biggest secrets in search of redemption.
Wara Wara (1930)
Wara Wara (1930)
Set in the 16th century, a peaceful Inca community is massacred by a group of conquistadors, and the survivors including Wara Wara flee into the mountains. Later, Wara Wara is assaulted by two Spanish soldiers, and rescued by a conquistador with a noble heart. The two fall in love, but are confronted with the mutual hatred between their peoples. Sentenced to death, they escape, and live happily ever after.
Dark Skull (2016)
Dark Skull (2016)
Elder Mamaní’s father has died, and it looks as if young Elder couldn’t care less, even though he has no one to take care of him now. He goes to live with his grandmother in the outskirts of the mining city, Huanuni, where Francisco, his godfather, gives him a job at the mine. But it doesn’t take long for Elder, who cares more about getting high and wandering through dangerous alleys at night, to mess it up. But he soon finds out about a dark secret regarding Francisco’s involvement in his father’s death…
The Courage of the People (1971)
Battlefield (2011)
Battlefield (2011)
Due to social unrest in the streets of La Paz (Bolivia), the owner of a modest beauty salon in a suburb of the city and her family, are forced to spend a few days together trapped inside with two clients. As the hours go by,petty fights between the five of them will make the coexistence in the confined space insufferable, turning the beauty salon into an unexpected battlefield.
Desconexión (2011)
Desconexión (2011)
A short story of a man who accidentally loses his cellphone and is found by a person that will not return it and is unaware of the damage he could cause.
The Dog Thief (2024)
The Dog Thief (2024)
Martín is a 13-year-old orphan shoeshine boy from La Paz, Bolivia, who has lived his entire life in the streets with the hope and desire to find his father. Driven by this desire and his imagination, Martin begins to suspect that one of his best clients is his father; Mr Novoa, a lonely tailor whose only emotional bond is his dog, Astor, a fine German shepherd whom he cares for like a son.
Maleficarum (2011)
Maleficarum (2011)
Maria Francisca, a wealthy young heiress and her friend Mariana De Castro, a young protestant widow, are accused of witchcraft and taken before the Inquisition of Lima, Peru .
The River (2018)
The River (2018)
An introvert city teenager is sent to his father's limber ranch. While trying to figure out his place as the son of the boss he finds himself in a world packed with naturalized violence.
Still Burn (2018)
Still Burn (2018)
General Alfredo Ovando Candia was a decisive figure in 20 th century Bolivian history. Through old home movies and institutional footage, Mauricio Ovando goes in search of the figure (and the shadow) of his grandfather, interweaving his history and History while going after an uncomfortable truth.
Mein fremdes Land (2022)
Mein fremdes Land (2022)
A Bolivian by birth, who grew up with adoptive parents in the Swabian town of Mössingen, is looking for his family in the mountains of Potosí. Out of poverty, his mother gave the little boy away when he was just a few months old. The search carries a story that goes far beyond personal fate. Because Manuel was born in a region known for the ruthless exploitation of silver. It's a film about identity, homeland and equal opportunities.
Cerro Saturno (2022)
Cerro Saturno (2022)
Amid the lunar landscapes of the Bolivian mountains, the few traces of human presence seem minuscule, anecdotal. Shot by shot, Miguel Hilari’s camera follows these clues that lead to the city and its sonic confusion, where faces are captured with the same attention and poetry as the environment in which they live.
Aymara Heart (1925)
Aymara Heart (1925)
An Aymara woman strugges against accusations that she is unfaithful to her husband.