I‘m not dead, only asleep

Farmers in Peru love their donkeys. They raise them in a little earthly paradise, far removed from the hard labour that is normally their lot. Here, the donkey is king, a full member of the family. Elsewhere, in a village south of Lima, a company of musicians gathers in joy and sadness around the grave of the recently deceased patriarch, Amador Ballumbrosio, ambassador of Afro-Peruvian culture. Here, too, the donkey is highly appreciated… for his jawbone, an essential percussion instrument!  Involving narration and contemplation, this bewitching film takes us from one world to another, from life to death, finding the sacred and the profane in unexpected places.  Strong on imagery and editing, the documentary is highly evocative. And in this poetic refection on man and animal, life and the beyond, fable of course plays its part: according to local belief, it is in donkeys that the souls of the dead are reincarnated.

Alessia Bottani.

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