Dir. Manuel Bauer - 95min - 2022 - Peru, Spain

'Steel Life' is a film journey about the Central Peruvian Railway during the week of Peru’s most important national holiday, Independence Day, July 28th. The train goes through steep gradients, carrying minerals from Cerro de Pasco, at 4380m altitude, one of the highest cities in the world, to the Port of Callao on the Pacific Ocean.

As the train passes through stations along the route, the story touches upon the lives of Peruvians, who despite sharing the same railway, have different experiences and daily lives. Along the way we find a century old bar that refuses to disappear, a nurse who tries to save children with so much lead in their blood that they will not make it through a metal detector, and a city that devours itself along with the memories and health of the people who live in it.