Now Instant and escorpión present the first film in Kiro Russo’s mining trilogy, Dark Skull, made in collaboration with the Huanuni miners union (Sindicato Mixto de Trabajadores Mineros de Huanuni) in his native Bolivia. The screening will feature a recorded introduction from Russo that will be shown before the film.

A hybrid work set in the uniquely rough world of the Bolivian mines, Dark Skull is a character drama and an idiosyncratic portrait of workers’ daily lives. The narrative unfolds around the troubled and troublesome Elder, sent to live with his grandmother in Huanuni, a small country town in Bolivia. Once there, Elder proves a constant embarrassment to his godfather, Francisco, frequently skipping work to get drunk or high. But his off-the-clock activities eventually lead him to a dark secret about Francisco’s involvement in his father’s death. Shot largely inside the mines, and made in collaboration with the miners’ union, Kiro Russo’s elegant and formally daring film employs an ambitious structure and gorgeous cinematography to express the nuances and codes of the workers.

“Something changed inside us after this experience. You think much more about humanity and about our country. More and more we have this monopoly of cinema and representation. For me, it’s very important to open the spectrum of what cinema is for the people, not just the filmmakers or the critics.”

- Kiro Russo

Born in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1984, Kiro Russo is a film director, editor, screenwriter, and sound designer.

He is known for creating deeply cinematic, political, and sound experiences that challenge the limits of film language and revive old traditions to reinterpret them.

Kiro and the production company Socavón have been making films alongside the mining community of Huanuni for the past ten years.

Studied at the Universidad del Cine (FUC) in Buenos Aires, Kiro has directed three short films—Enterprisse (2010), Juku (2012), and Nueva Vida (2015)—as well as two feature films: Viejo Calavera (2016) and El Gran Movimiento (2021), shot in La Paz, Bolivia, on Super 16mm.

Kiro’s feature films and shorts have been selected for several of the world's most prestigious festivals and have won awards at events such as the Venice Biennale, the Locarno International Film Festival, the San Sebastián Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Cartagena, BAFICI, IndieLisboa, and many others.

Currently, Kiro is developing his third feature film, Canciones Perdidas (2026), the final chapter of his mining trilogy.

Please note: seating is limited. Box Office opens thirty minutes prior to the listed showtime. Guests may add their name to the standby list upon arrival. Online ticket sales will be honored up until 15 minutes after the scheduled showtime; at that time, any unclaimed seats will be released for in-store purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. All Sales Final.