Japan-born, U.S.-based documentarian Toshifumi Matsushita's narrative feature debut merges documentary know-how with a charmingly loose road odyssey utilizing non-professional actors. Named after the Quecha earth goddess, the film portrays a vanishing way of life, yet emerges as a delightful celebration of it. Film festivals and audiences should come running.

Working to the cheerful last, Grandma drops dead, and Grandpa is feeling his age. So for the first time, 13-year-old Kunturi (Christian Huaygua) gets to accompany dad Sauci (Francisco Gutierrez) on his annual three-month trek delivering slabs from their vast salt-lake home terrain to distant mountain folk. Eschewing trucks and cold cash, they do it the old way, via llama caravan, bartering for goods in exchange. En route, they discover a playmate's father died in a mine accident; witness a thief's banishment from his village; experience Macha's raucous Tinku Festival; and meet a girl who someday might be Kunturi's bride.

"More than any discernible narrative arc, it's the “ruta de la sal” (salt route) wending through remote Andean habitations that shapes Pachamama. Unpretentious and warm, Pachamama's non-professional actors prove as winning as its plentiful wildlife and scenery." – Dennis Harvey, Variety