Films

Anthropologist and filmmaker Carolina Arias Ortiz returns to Costa Rica to visit her estranged father. When he is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, death suddenly draws close. During this time she meets the archaeologist Ifigenia Quintanilla, who is conducting research into one of Costa Rica’s most famous cultural phenomena: the large, pre-Columbian stone spheres found scattered across the landscape, and the many myths associated with them. The filmmaker uses subdued black and white to present the gorgeous natural environment, the miraculous spheres, and other stone objects that may or may not reveal their secrets. Her voiceover, archive images, family photos, and Quintanilla’s philosophically tinged texts connect the personal with the rich history of the country’s original inhabitants.