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Films about the Indigenous Peoples of
EL PERÚ

Laulico Tupac Amaru Fitzcarraldo
Altiplano

Laulico; Tupac Amaru; Fitzcarraldo; Altiplano; Juliana


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HISTORICAL FILMS: 16th CENTURY
Royal Hunt of the Sun DVD

THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN
Director: Irving Lerner
Writer: Philip Yordan
Cinematography: Roger Barlow
Music: Marc Wilkinson
1969. 118 minutes.
Rated G. Aspect ratio 2.35:1
Setting: Spain & Cusco, 1532s
Language: English
Indian content: medium
Availability: DVD
lousy ok
Based on a play by Peter Shaffer. British actors play Spaniard and Inca alike in this stiff, verbose drama, which isn't nearly as cool as the cover suggests. We begin with a long debate between Francisco Pizarro (Robert Shaw) and King Carlos about whether Spain should fund another expedition to Cusco. In this first long scene the film still feels like a play. When we finally get to Peru, Christopher Plummer brings a welcome eccentricity to the role of Emperor Atawalpa, awaiting the aid of his gods as he is held captive by conquistadores. This Cinemascope production seems like a last gasp from the old-school historical epics before a grittier style took over.

Sinopsis en español:
Francisco Pizarro rapta al jefe de los incas Atawalpa, prometiendo liberarlo si le consiguen una gran suma de oro. Con el paso de los días Pizarro desarrollará una honorable relación con Atawalpa y dudará entre sus conflictos morales.


Aguirre, the Wrath of God DVD

AGUIRRE, DER ZORN GOTTES
(Aguirre, the Wrath of God)

Director: Werner Herzog
Writer: Werner Herzog
Cinematographer: Thomas Mauch
Music: Popol Vuh
1972. 100 minutes.
Rated PG. Aspect ratio 1.66:1
Setting: Peruvian Amazon, 1560
Language: German
Indian content: low
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good excellent
Incan and Amazonian Indians only play minor parts on screen but loom large over the fate of the hubristic explorers in this masterpiece by director Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski is brilliant as the mad Lope de Aguirre driving his companions to doom on the unknown Amazon, in search of the fabled City of Gold. Although based on historical events (see also El Dorado below), Aguirre feels more like a masterful horror film than a historical costume drama. Thematically, it is quite similar to Heart of Darkness. Cinematographer Thomas Mauch won two awards for Aguirre.

Sinopsis en español:
La fascinante historia de Lope de Aguirre, el desquiciado conquistador español del siglo XVI, quien luego de separarse de la expedición de Gonzalo Pizarro, intentó descubrir la mítica ciudad de El Dorado, perdida en la inmensidad del Amazonas. A medida que el explorador lleva a sus hombres a una muerte segura, el film enfrenta al espectador a perturbadores temas como el imperialismo y el fanatismo religioso. Joya de excepcional belleza y fuerza cinematográfica.



El Dorado DVD

EL DORADO
Director: Carlos Saura
Writer: Carlos Saura
Cinematography: Teodoro Escamilla
Music: Alejandro Massó
1988. 149 minutes. 2.35:1
Setting: Perú, 1500s
Language: Spanish
Indian content: medium-low
Availability: VHS (not subtitled) or Region 2 DVD
lousy ok good very good

It's surprising that anyone attempted to bring this story to the screen again after Herzog's achievement with Aguirre, widely regarded as a masterpiece. Saura has not added a bold new vision to the myth, or even a new twist. He simply made a longer movie. Many reviewers complained about the slow pace of this film and the time required for Lope de Aguirre to emerge as an interesting character. But despite its undeniable inferiority to Herzog's film, El Dorado is still a good movie, with fine cinematography, acting, and costumes. If you watch this one before seeing Herzog's Aguirre, you'll find this large-scale production from Spain quite satisfying.

Sinopsis en español:
La historia épica de 300 hombres que apostaron sus tierras e incluso sus almas para tomar parte en el descenso del más impresionante y desconocido río del mundo, cruzando la jungla salvaje del Amazonas, en busca de la legendaria tierra del oro; en búsqueda de El Dorado.


17th CENTURY
El bien esquivo

EL BIEN ESQUIVO
(The Elusive Good)

Director: Augusto Tamayo San Román
Writers: Augusto Tamayo, Alejandro Rossi
Cinematographer: Juan Durán
Music: Víctor Villavicencio, Irene Vivanco
2001. 146 minutes.
Setting: various parts of Peru, 1618
Language: Spanish, occasional Quechua
Indian content: medium-low
Availability: VHS (no subtitles)
lousy ok good very good
Jerónimo de Ávila, a mestizo soldier in the Spanish army returns to his native Peru to find legal proof that he is the legitimate son of a Spanish captain. He seeks out the small town where his Quechua mother, whom he has not seen in years, is now dying. Meanwhile, the Jesuit priests are carrying out a purge of all traces of the indigenous religion, seeking the sacred objects (huacas or wakas in Quechua) hidden in homes and churches. A parallel plotline tells the story of Sor Ines, a novitiate nun who secretly writes secular poetry. When Jeronimo flees from police after killing a man in a tavern brawl, he ducks into the convent and hides in Ines' cell. The two stories are connected thematically, both exploring the conflict between church suppression and the individual's need to be true to oneself. With excellent cinematography and a meticulously recreated 17th century Peru, El bien esquivo is one of the nation's most ambitious big-budget productions. Unfortunately the film doesn't show a great deal of indigenous culture. Jeronimo is an unlikeable rogue, his reunion with his mother on her deathbed lacks tenderness, and since he has rejected his Quechua past, the film doesn't dwell on it much either.
Official site: http://argos.com.pe/elbienesquivo/principal.htm

Sinopsis en español:
Perú, año 1618. Un hombre llamado Jerónimo de Ávila (Diego Bertie), de origen mestizo, es decir, hijo de padre español con madre india; pretende poseer parte de la herencia de su padre ya fallecido, pero sus hermanos de madre al parecer española, lo llaman bastardo y no lo quieren en la familia. Jerónimo sabe que la única forma de demostrar que tiene un nombre y apellido es buscando unos papeles que demuestren que su padre estuvo casado con Francisca Chaupistana. Jerónimo lo que quiere finalmente es buscar y encontrar su posición en el mundo. Inés Vargas de Carvajal (Jimena Lindo) es una monja cuya vida transcurre en el Convento de las Cayetanas. Realmente no le gusta eso de estar encerrada ahí. A ella lo que le gusta es escribir poemas de corte erótico que la llevan a mundos de placer que la hacen feliz. Mientras que nadie descubra lo que ella escribe por las noches, será feliz aunque sea cuando llegue las noches y escriba todo lo que escribe. Un día Jerónimo mata a un hombre en una apuesta por la mujer de este último, las fuerzas del orden empiezan a perseguirlo y él logra treparse y esconderse en el Convento de las Cayetanas. Su camino se cruza con Inés Vargas. La vida les tiene planteado un nuevo futuro para ambos. El film muestra lugares históricos del Perú como la Fortaleza del Real Felipe, el Convento de Santo Domingo, el Convento de San Francisco, la Huaca Huallamarca, la Laguna de Huacachina y Ticlio.

18th CENTURY
Tupac Amaru DVD

TÚPAC AMARU
Director/writer: Federico García [Hurtado]
Cinematography: Rodolfo López
Music: Juan Márquez
1984. 95 minutes.
Setting: Cusco, 1770s-1780s
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: DVD (Spanish subtitles for the Quechua, no subtitles for the Spanish dialogue)
lousy ok good very good
A retelling of the 1880 Incan uprising led by Túpac Amaru II (1742-1781), played by Reynaldo Arenas. Born José Gabriel Condorcanqui, Tupac was the cacique of a Peruvian town which he governed for the king of Spain. When he was unable to persuade the government to improve the living conditions of the Indians, he rejected Spanish culture, adopted the name and native culture of his great-grandfather (Tupac Amaru I, the last Incan king), and he rebelled against the Spanish. He was defeated, and the film ends with the execution of Tupac Amaru and his family. This film can be confusing, with many references to Incan history and culture, but it is worth the effort. This site has many clips from the film: listenrecovery.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/tupac-amaru-ii-la-pelicula-1984-cubaperu-dirigido-por-federico-garcia-version-espanol/

Sinopsis en español:
Reconstrucción histórica de la gran revolución social e independentista del Inca José Gabriel Túpac Amaru, ocurrida a fines del S. XVIII. Los múltiples abusos cometidos por los encomenderos españoles, particularmente en el trabajo de las minas y obrajes, desatan la sublevación de los indígenas que se inicia con el apresamiento y ejecución del corregidor Antonio de Arriaga en el pueblo de Tinta. El pronunciamiento concluye con el sitio del Cusco y la prisión y muerte del Inca, sus familiares y principales capitanes, en la plaza principal de dicha ciudad.


EARLY 20th CENTURY: Fiebre de caucho
Socio de Dios VHS

EL SOCIO DE DIOS
(God's Ally)

Director: Federico García [Hurtado]
Script: Federico García Hurtado, Roger Rumrill
Cinematography: Rodolfo López
1986. 120 minutes.
Setting: Putumayo and Iquitos, 1895-1908
Language: Spanish
Indian content: medium
Availability: VHS (no subtitles)
lousy ok good
At the beginning of the 20th century, Rubber Fever (fiebre de caucho) invades the Amazon. Julio Cesar Arana, a hat seller, rises to power as the owner of a rubber tree plantation in Putumayo. He earns the nicknamed Socio de Dios for his extensive power and territory. He makes the Huitoto Indians work under brutal conditions and punishes them with whipping, burning, and death, until the Indians rebel. The film moves slowly, with no compelling characters to carry it off. Good, but it should have been better. Based on actual events: Julio Cesar Arana was a real person, a contemporary of Fitzcarraldo, who makes a cameo in this film.

Sinopsis en español:
El cauchero Julio César Arana impone su dominio en las selvas del Putumayo y forja un imperio gracias a la explotación inhumana de las tribus indígenas. Sus abusos despiertan el interés de la Sociedad Antiesclavista de Londres que logra, tras una dilatada batalla legal y política, mover al juez peruano Carlos Valcárcel para que, con grave riesgo de su vida, determine la prisión de Arana, apodado "El Socio de Dios" y la disolución de su compañía. Lo que ignoran el propio juez y sus colaboradores es que tras la mano de los humanistas ingleses, se esconde la codicia de las compañías caucheras que han logrado transplantar la "hebea brasiliense" a sus plantaciones del sudeste asiático y pretenden sacar el caucho peruano del mercado. Cae Arana pero también termina la "Fiebre del Caucho" y se cierra otro ciclo económico en la amazonía.


Fitzcarraldo DVD

FITZCARRALDO
Director/writer: Werner Herzog
Cinematography: Thomas Mauch
Music: Popl Vuh
1982. 158 minutes. PG. 1.85:1
Setting: Amazon River in Perú, early 1900s
Language: English
Indian content: medium
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good excellent
Werner Herzog's thematic sequel to his Aguirre. This time Klaus Kinski plays Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (nicknamed Fitzcarraldo), an English entrepreneur who wants to build an opera house in the Amazon. In order to finance his grandiose, Gatsby-esque dream, Fitzcarraldo tries to make his rubber business more profitable by sailing his ship upriver to where the unexploited rubber trees are. When this proves impossible, he must haul his ship over a hill, enlisting the aid of the Asháninka Indians to heave the mostronsity over the hill with a complex system of pulleys. The Englishman doesn't realize that the Asháninka have their own motive for helping him. Fitzcarraldo is surprisingly similar to Herzog's previous Kinski-in-the-Amazon film, Aguirre (see above), and many critics view it as inferior, but it is a magnificent film in its own right. Despite a slow beginning, there is more Indian content, and the scenes of the Asháninka people are well worth the wait. You should also check out Burden of Dreams, a feature-length documentary on the making of Fitzcarraldo, available on DVD.

Sinopsis en español:
Fitzcarraldo es un hombre obsesionado por la ópera y sueña con construir un teatro para representar espectáculos operísticos en plena selva amazónica. Una ventura muy costosa, que le obliga a exportar el caucho de una recóndita zona de la jungla, algo imposible sin un barco. Pero el problema reside en cómo trasladar un barco a través de las montañas. La ilusión y el genio humanos parecen ser la única esperanza para sobrevivir en un medio completamente hostil.

1930s
Jarawi

JARAWI
Directors/cinematographers:
Cesar Villanueva & Eulogio Nishiyama
Writer: Cesar Villanueva
Music: Armando Guevara Ochoa
1966. 82 minutes.
Setting: Cusco
Languages: Quecha, Spanish
Availability: none

A young landowner in Cusco is in a relationship with one of the girls who works on his farm, but then he falls in love with a visitor from Lima. The farm girl seeks to regain his love with the help of Mariano, a harpist who has moved to Chinchero in search of a better life. When Mariano becomes the victim of a sacrifice, the farmers rebel against the landowner. Loosely based on the story "Diamantes y pedernales" by Jose Maria Arguedas. "Jarawi" in Quechua is a sad love song. The film was criticized for its technical problems, out-of-sync dialogue, and inexpressive acting on the part of Cesar Zarate (Mariano) and Teodoro Nunez Rebaza (the landowner). Unfortunately no copies of this film survive. The negatives were destroyed in a fire in Buenos Aires.

Sinopsis en español:
Un joven gamonal cusqueño es amante de una campesina que le canta canciones de amor. Pero se enamora de una visitante limeña, suscitando los celos de su prometida andina. Ella busca reconquistarlo con la ayuda de la música de un arpista que luego de abandonar su pueblo de origen se ha radicado en Chinchero en busca de mejores posibilidades. El arpista se convierte en víctima de una inmolación que provoca la rebelión de los campesinos contra el gamonal. Este film ya no existe.



Los perros hambrientos VHS

LOS PERROS HAMBRIENTOS
(Hungry Dogs)

Director/writer: Luis Figueroa
Cinematography: Kurt Rosenthal
Music: Omar Arayo
Editor: Juan Carlos Macias
1976. 100 minutes.
Setting: village in the altiplano, early 20th century
Language: Spanish
Indian content: high
Availability: VHS (no subtitles)
lousy ok good very good
Based on the classic 1937 novel by Ciro Alegría (1909-1967), this film follows the lives of several families--white, cholo, and Indian--in an unnamed hamlet in the altiplano. We meet the weathly landowner Don Cipriano, his mayordomo Don Romulo, and various families who work the land through times of plenty and times of drought. We also meet the bandit brothers Blas and Julian Celedón, who steal from their neighbors and are finally ambushed and killed by a sherrif from the city. The army forcibly conscripts Mateo, whose wife and 9-year-old son are left to fend for themselves. And then there is the central family of Simón Robles, a famed storyteller and sheepdog breeder. They each have their own story, and it can be confusing to keep track of them all if you haven't read the book (which has never been published in English). The film has a documentary-like style, with an anthropologist's attention to detail, showing the family working the fields, cooking and eating on the ground, scrubbing their home-made dishes with corn cobs, feeding their sheep and dogs, singing their folksongs, telling stories, or just wandering the countryside. Like the novel, the film begins with a slice-of-life feel to be savored for its images and humor, but slowly turns into a excruciating account of a drought told in gruesome detail. Luis Figueroa also directed Kukuli and Yawar Fiesta. Check out his blog at luifigueroa.blogspot.com

CAST:
Simón - Juan del Campo
Juana - Rosalia Ascencio
Antuca - Olga del Campo
Timoteo - Gregorio Solano
Don Cipriano - Mario Arrieta
Abdulio - Hugo Diaz
Don Rómulo - Jorge Yupanqui
Mateo - Luis del Campo
Martina - Arsenia Arroyo
Damián - Rosita del Campo
Mashe - Nicanor Delgado
Julián - Cesar Cotrina

Sinopsis en español:
La vida de Simón Robles y su familia transcurre en la hacienda Páucar, situada en un valle de los Andes. Simón, patriarcal, poseedor de una gran sabiduria popular, gran conocedor y criador de perros pastores junto con Juana su mujer, y sus hijos Antuca y Vicenta, las pastoras y Timoteo, trabajan como colonos para Don Cipriano, dueño de vidas y haciendas. Los bandoleros Blas y Julián Celedon asolan la región, robando el ganado, y el alférez Culebrón es llamado de la ciudad para capturarlos. De otra parte, el otro hacendado Don Juvencio utilizando artimañas legales, se apodera de las tierras de la comunidad de Huaira, y estos van al Simón Robles para ayuda. La familia debe soportar la sequía y tratar de sobrevivir. Los perros son los compañeros de los protagonistas, conviven con las ovejas, pero cuando arrecia la sequía se tornan agresivos y devoran a las ovejas. Acosados por el hambre los campesinos piden comida al patrón, al verse rechazados ocupan el granero, pero son reprimidos. Basado en la novela homónima de Ciro Alegría.



Yawar Fiesta VHS

YAWAR FIESTA
(Fiesta de sangre)
(Blood Festival)

Director: Luis Figueroa
Writers: Luis Figueroa, César Pérez
Cinematography: Julio Lencina, Eulogio Nishiyama
Music: Kiri Escobar
Editing: Victoria Chicón, Fernando Espinoza
1982. 90 minutes.
Setting: Puquio (a town in Ayacucho), 1930s
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: VHS (only the Quechua is subtitled)
lousy ok good very good

Puquio, a town in Ayacucho (halfway between Lima and Cusco), has a tradition of holding bullfights each year on July 28, the Peruvian Independence Day. This year the K'ayau, one of four indigenous communities in the town, decide to capture Misitu, a legendary wild bull that roams Don Julian's land. They get permission from Don Julian, but find resistance from other quarters: the whites in town want to forbid the barbaric custom, and the goverment declares they must hire a professional bullfighter from Lima. The Lucanas Union, an Indigenist advocacy group inspired by Mariategui and comprised of assimilated urban mestizos, praises the government for preventing the Indians from being injured in the bullfight, not realizing that the K'ayau themselves want to participate, welcoming the opportunity to prove their manhood, which is normally suppressed under their landowner bosses. Complicating matters further, another Indian community in Puquio, the K'oñanis, regard Misitu as an auki, a mountain spirit, and consider it sacriligious to capture the sacred bull for the festival. Don Julian, a brutal landowner notorious for abusing his Indians, favors the manly sport, ironically putting himself on the side of the Indians, though he is locked up for his aggressive quarrels with the mayor. Finally the professional bullfight arrives and the mayor orders his troops to shoot any Indian who attempts to participate in the bullfight. But when the crucial moment comes, the excitement of the bloody festival and the shocking image of a condor tied to the back of the bull, leaves the troops awestruck as the Indians enter the fray.

Yawar Fiesta is based on the 1941 novel by José María Arguedas (1911-1969). An anthropologist, novelist, and poet, Arguedas was brought up bilingually, learning Quechua from the servants in his house. He wrote poetry in Quechua, but for his novels he developed a hybrid of Spanish words and Quechua syntax which allowed him to express an indigenous view of the world. Luis Figueroa's film translates this vision to the screen through a naturalistic style, with the strident sound of Wakawakra horns (bullhorns played before the bullfight), charangos, and the mysterious danzak, or scissor dancer. The condor tied to the bull is not in the novel; Figueroa adds this striking image to symbolize the conflict between the Spanish and Andean cultures. Much of the story is told through arguments over the bullfight in the town hall and in the saloon, and the subtleties of social class that spur the conflict may not be apparent to all viewers, especially if you haven't read the book. Figueroa however finds an effective culmination to the novel's somewhat anti-climactic ending.

Sinopsis en español:
En Puquio, Ayacucho, los indios se preparan para celebrar la tradicional corrida de toros salvajes. La comunidad K'ayau capturan al Misitu, toro legendario. Un conflicto estalla cuando el gobierno emite la prohibición de corridas de toros que en que no participe un diestro profesional. Pese a la orden de disparar contra el primer indio que desafíe la prohibición, la celebracion indígena se realiza entre cantos y vítores.


CONTEMPORARY SETTING (story takes place about the same time the film was made)
Altiplano

ALTIPLANO
Directors/writers: Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth
Cinematography: Francisco Gózon
Music: Michel Schöpping
Editing: Nico Leunen
2009. 109 minutes. Aspect: 1.85:1
Setting: Turubamba (a village near the border with Ecuador)
Languages: Quechua & Spanish; some French & English; a few lines of Farsi
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good excellent


War photographer Grace, devastated by a violent incident in Iraq, renounces her profession. Her Belgian husband, Max, is a cataract surgeon working at an eye clinic in the Peruvian altiplano. Nearby, the villagers of Turubamba succumb to illnesses caused by a mercury spill from industrial mining. Saturnina (played by Magaly Solier), a young woman in Turubamba, loses her fiancé to the contamination. The villagers turn their rage on the foreign doctors, and in the ensuing riot Max is killed. Saturnina takes drastic measures to protest against the violations towards her people and their land. When Grace travels to Turubamba to see the place where her husband was killed, she comes across the Indians protesting against the miners, and the two widows meet. A strange bond is forged between these two women from different continents. Altiplano is a lyrical, provocative film full of beauty, wonder and symbolism, boldly fusing art and politics to raise our awareness of how all our actions are linked in this seemingly divided world. A masterpiece. Co-director Peter Brosens has made documentaries on Andean communities in Peru and Ecuador and has studied the phenomenon of protest suicide.

Official site: www.altiplano.info

Sinopsis en español:
La fotógrafa de guerra Grace, devastada por un violento incidente en Irak, renuncia a su profesión. Su marido belga Max es cirujano de cataratas en una clínica ocular en el altiplano peruano. Los habitantes del pueblo cercano Turubamba sucumben a las enfermedades causadas por un derrame de mercurio de la mina local. Saturnina, una joven mujer de Turubamba pierde a su marido a consecuencia de la contaminación. Los habitantes del pueblo descargan su rabia contra los médicos extranjeros y Max muere durante los disturbios. Saturnina toma medidas drásticas para protestar contra las interminables afrentas que sufren su gente y su tierra. Grace parte en viaje de duelo al lugar de la muerte de Max. Altiplano es una película sensible y sagaz sobre nuestro mundo dividido pero inextricablemente interconectado.


Antuca VHS


ANTUCA
Director/writer: Maria Barea [Paniagua]
Cinematography: Cesar Perez, Horacio Faudella
Music: Chalena Vasquez
Editor: Gianfranco Annichini
1993. 79 minutes.
Setting: Andean village
Language: Spanish, plus a song in Quechua
Indian content: medium-high
Availability: VHS (no subtitles)
lousy ok good very good


Antuca (played by Graciela Huaywa Collanqui) is taken from her native village to work for her godmother's brother, a colonel in Lima. She is not allowed to go to school and receives no salary and so has no means to leave. When the colonel's son tries to rape her, she finally escapes and returns to her native village, ten years after she left. Here she rediscovers her indigenous life, and the film shows many facets of that culture: a parade, dancing, ceremonial dress, weaving, shepherding, and making music. Antuca lacks the narrative drive to make it a really compelling film, but the scenes of Andean folkways make up for the leisurely pace. A rousing soundtrack features a variety of styles from authentic folksinging to more pop-inflenced songs. The story is based on testimonies of the maids' union in Lima, and was originally conceived as a documentary. Director Maria Barea was one of the founders of Grupo Chaski and the producer of Perros Hambrientos and Yawar Fiesta. More info on the filmmaker at www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm456.shtml

Sinopsis en español:
Antuca, una joven nacida en la zona andina "trabajadora del hogar," regresa a su pueblo para asistir a una fiesta patronal. Ha pasado diez aNos fuera de comunidad, desde que su madrina la embracO hacia Lima con el fin de separarla de Artemio, el campesino que la amaba. En Lima se empleO como domEstica en la casa de "el coronel" pero huyO de la casa luego de sufrir un intento de violaciOn. Despues de servir en diversas casas y conocer las humillaciones pr diez aNos, regresa a su pueblo en busca de sus raíces, un otro mundo donde la llaman "Señorita Antuca." Al reencontrarse con Artemio, descubre que el es ahora un diregente de su comunidad. A su regreso a Lima decide continuar su trabajo y construye su casa en el arenal. es obligada a dejar su pueblo por causa de la muerte de su padre.


Casarasiri

CASARASIRI:
La lucha por la verdadera amor

Director: Joseph Lora
Writers: Joseph Lora; Jorge Condori Navarro
Cinematography: Juan José Mamani Casa
Music: Johan Vizarreta, Damaris Gardenia, Rita Panibra
2010. 110 minutes.
Setting: Puno
Language: Spanish
Availability: not yet on DVD

Felipe and Flor are in love, but Genaro plans to take advantage of Flor's innocence. When she refuses Genaro, he creates a plot with Flor's sister and two of his delinquent friends to take her to a far, inaccessible place and make the parents believe she has run away. Felipe goes off in search of Flor.
Official website: casarasiri.blogspot.com

Sinopsis en español:
Felipe y Flor viven un gran amor; pero, llega Genaro que intenta aprovecharse de la inocencia de Flor, ante la negativa de esta, Genaro en complicidad con Paulina (hermana de Flor) y dos delincuentes, la raptan y la llevan a un lugar lejano e inaccesible, haciéndoles creer a los padres de Flor que se marchó junto a Flor. Felipe sale en busca de Flor su verdadero y único amor y la recupera.


El caso Huayanay

EL CASO HUAYANAY
Testimonio de parte

Director/writer: Federico García [Hurtado]
Cinematography: Pierre Maury
Music: Raul Garcia Zarate, Ricardo Eyzaguirre
Editing: Gloria Arguelles
1981. 86 minutes.
Setting: Huayanay, a town in the Huancavelica region (between Lima and Cusco)
Language: Quechua, Spanish
Availability: not available

Ancient Incan law is put to practice in a modern village in the Andes: A man is judged by an assembly of the entire community and sentenced to death for cattle robbing and rape of an underaged girl. They deliver the body to the authorities, who in turn order the arrest of the 216 campesinos who committed the vigilante justice. The story is told in a documentary style from the point of view of Ciriano Palomino, one of the men who took part in the lynching, and many of the actors are from the town of Huayanay. Based on true events that happened in 1972.

Sinopsis en español:
Reconstrucción ficcionada del célebre "Caso Huayanay" que puso en evidencia la secular oposición existente entre el país oficial y el país real, en los pueblos andinos del Perú. Los comuneros de una apartada región de Huancavelica, en los Andes centrales, aplican sus propios códigos de justicia y ejecutan a un ladrón de ganado, autor de numerosos crímenes y abusos con los indios. Renuente a toda llamada de atención de los "waras" o autoridades comuneras, el bandido es condenado a muerte y ejecutado de acuerdo a las seculares costumbres de la comunidad. La justicia oficial se ensaña con los comuneros que asumen la responsabilidad colectiva de los hechos.


Chullpicha

CHULLPICHA
Director/writer: Luis Aguilar De La Cruz
2007.
Setting: Ayacucha, the present.
Language: Spanish
Availability: none


The loves and adventures of two girls, Chullpicha and Anacha, who are caught up in a complicated story taking place in military barracks. A tale of love, hate, jealousy and violence, showing the deep roots of Andean culture.

Sinopsis en español:
Narra las aventuras amorosas de los jóvenes campesinos Chullpicha y Anacha, que se entrecruzan con una controvertida historia ambientada en un cuartel. Es una historia de amor, odio, celos y violencia que muestra las costumbres más arraigadas del mundo andino en el Perú profundo. Los protagonistas son Alejandro Huanchaqui Quispe, Diana Méndez Vicente, Richard Canchari Quicaño y Clarisa Miranda Ccaico.




enlarge
DAUGHTER OF THE SUN GOD
[COCOBOLO]

Director/writer: Kenneth Hartford
Cinematography: Fred Houston
Music: Les Baxter
1960. 75 minutes.
Setting: deserts and jungles
Language: English
Availability: out of print

Kent, an American writer and explorer vacationing in Peru, is approached by Christine, whose uncle, an authority on pre-Columbian cultures, has disappeared. Christine wants Kent to help her find a stolen map of the legendary lost city of gold, where the Inka empire still thrives. Dr. Howard Knapp, an American archeologist, joins Kent's expedition as a guide. After surviving many perils in the Peruvian desert--snakes, crocodiles, and hostile natives--the group negotiates jungle quicksand and jaguar attacks. Dr. Knapp, revealed to be responsible for stealing the map, separates from Kent and Christine. The couple make their way to the Inkan city and warn the natives, who overcome the doctor and his mountain bandits.

This U.S. production, filmed in Peru and Brazil, premiered in Peru in 1960 under the title Cocobolo but wasn't released in the U.S. until 1963. Hartford went by the pseudonym Kenneth Herts for this film. Starring William Holmes, Lisa Montell, Harry Knapp, and Juanita Llosa as the Sun Goddess. I have no idea where to get this film.


Diarios de motocicleta DVD


DIARIOS DE MOTOCICLETA
(Motorcycle Diaries)

Director: Walter Salles
Writer: Jose Rivera
Cinematography: Eric Gautier
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
2004. 126 minutes. Rated R.
Setting: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, 1952
Languages: Spanish; a few lines of Quechua
Indian Content: low
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good

Before he became "El Che," the medical student Ernesto Guevara (played by Gael García Bernal) and his biochemist friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) embarked on a road trip across South America, where they saw the poverty and injustice that would eventually make a revolutionary out of Ernesto. Most of the Indians appear during their passage through Peru. Although the books upon which the film was based--Che's Diarios de Motocicleta and Granado's Con el Che por America Latina)--discussed numerous Indigenous cultures they encounted along the way--Mapuche, Aymara, Quechua, Yagua, and others-- the movie only shows snapshot scenes of the Indians. Somewhat superficial as an adaptation, the film is very effective as a Road Trip movie, full of adventure, humor, and and pathos, not to mention wonderful cinematography and fine performances from both Bernal and de la Serna, which will no doubt inspire people to learn more about Che Guevara and South America.

Sinopsis en español:
Trata del viaje realizado en 1952, inicialmente en motocicleta, a través de América del Sur por Ernesto Guevara y su amigo Alberto Granado. Durante el desarrollo de la aventura, Guevara se descubre a sí mismo transformado por sus observaciones de la vida de los empobrecidos campesinos indígenas. El camino presenta a Guevara y Granado una verdadera imagen de la identidad latinoamericana. A través de los personajes que encuentran en el camino, aprenden sobre las injusticias a las que los pobres se enfrentan y están expuestos a personas con las que nunca se habían encontrado en su ciudad natal. El viaje sirve para explorar la identidad de uno de los más memorables revolucionarios.


Dios tarda pero no olvida DVD

DIOS TARDA PERO NO OLVIDA
(God Is Slow But Doesn't Forget)

Director/writer: Palito Ortega Matute
Music: Dante Cordova Llanos
1996. 107 minutes.
Setting: Patara (town in Ayacucho)
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: DVD released in Peru
lousy ok
A group of Shining Path guerrillas invade Patara, a community in Ayacucho, and kill the father of the boy Cirilo (played by Edwin Béjar Ochante). His mother sends him to Huamanga to live with his aunt. But the aunt's husband is an abusive drunk, and Cirilo ends up living on the street. He tries to make a living shining shoes and selling candy, and he befriends another boy, Pepito (played by his brother, Nelson Bejar Ochante). Pepito finds a job doing bad things for adults and moves to Lima, leaving Cirilo a bag of food and a note. After more hard luck in Huamanga, Cirilo takes a bus to Lima to find his friend. Ultra-low budget film with non-actors. Followed by a sequel, Dios tarda pero no olvida 2, in 1999.

Sinopsis en español:
Una columna de senderistas incursiona en la comunidad campesina de Patara y asesina a los padres de pequeño Cirilo, quien tiene que huir a la ciudad de Huamanga y refugiarse en casa de unos tíos. Cansado de los maltratos y abusos que recibe, intenta viajar a Lima para escapar de la miseria y la adversidad.



DIOSES
(Gods)

Director/writer: Josué Méndez
Cinematography: Mario Bassino
Music: Leonardo Barbuy
Editing: Roberto Benavides
2008. 90 minutes.
Setting: Asia (coastal resort town 60 miles south of Lima)
Language: Spanish; a few lines of Quechua
Indian content: low
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good


Agustín is a wealthy factory owner with two spoiled blond children and a brand-new trophy girlfriend, Elisa, played by Maricielo Effio). Elisa struggles to read up on topics of interest to Agustín's friends' wives, and struggles to make herself seem sophisticated--a goal which includes keeping her indigenous origin a secret. She has a dream that her mother and grandmother show up at her new home in their humble Andean clothing and she pretends to Agustín that they are the new maids. Later we see her visiting her family, evidently with affection, but when she marries Agustín at the end, the family is nowhere in sight. Dioses is a mordant satire of the rich, and there is much more to this fine film which I won't go into. The indigenous theme is just a small but crucial part of it. Magaly Solier (Madeinusa, La Teta Asustada, Altiplano) has a brief role as one of the maids, who are the only likable people in the story.
Official website: diosesthemovie.com

Sinopsis en español:
Diego está enamorado de su hermana, Andrea, y enfrenta la culpa y los placeres que esto le provoca. Andrea, sin embargo, ocupa su tiempo en otras cosas: ella tiene sus propios secretos que esconder. Agustín, el padre de ambos, ha traido a casa a Elisa, su nueva novia, veinte años menor que él, y de una condición social y económica más humilde. Elisa tendrá que aprender rápido si se quiere convertir en la dama de sociedad que siempre quiso ser. Una familia atrapada en los rígidos mecanismos sociales de la clase alta peruana. Una crónica sobre la decadencia, la hipocresía y el conformismo en un medio frívolo y hermético, donde los personajes actúan como dioses, más allá de las reglas, más allá de la moral, y más allá de lo creíble.


Don Melcho


DON MELCHO: AMIGO O ENEMIGO
(Sir Melcho: Friend or Enemy)

Director/writer: Arnaldo Soriano Vásquez
Cinematography: Julio Urruchi Breña
Editing: Arnaldo Soriano Vásquez, Wilfredo Paucar, Luís Calderón
2009. 91 minutes.
Setting: Huancavelica, a city high in the Andes, 1980s.
Language: Spanish
Indian content: high
Availability: Youtube

Based on the life of the controversial Don Melcho, a Robin Hood-type figure who gained notoreity in the 1980s by bribing and corruping officials and giving money to the poor. He was semi-illiterate, and some say a delinquent, killer, and rapist. He was finally captured and killed by a paramilitary group. A shorter version of this movie is available on Youtube (in Spanish, no subtitles):
youtube.com/watch?v=7Sr9tB9vJx8&feature=PlayList&p=B761F92B4B37AE56&index=0
Review (in Spanish):
cinencuentro.com/2008/04/02/primeras-imagenes-de-don-melcho-amigo-o-enemigo-opera-prima-de-arnaldo-soriano

Sinopsis en español:
Don Melcho, amigo o enemigo, es la historia de un campesino semi analfabeto que vivió en la década de 1980 en los pueblos de Huancavelica. Delincuente, asesino, violador y abigeo, se hizo compadre de congresistas, jueces y policías para burlar a la ley. Con dádivas corrompió y satirizó al Poder Judicial de su tiempo. Encabezó las reivindicaciones de su pueblo Chopja, regalando dinero a unos pueblos y robando a otros. En suma: querido por unos y odiado por otros, fue perseguido por la justicia y por un grupo paramilitar. A la muerte de Melcho, casi todo el pueblo lloró por él. Elenco: Pánfilo Quispe, Ramón Ticllacuri, Alfredo Dueñas, Juan Quispe, Angel Alarcón, Ubaldina Ledesma, Julio Sáenz.


El enemigo principal

JATUM AUKA:
El enemigo principal

Director: Jorge Sanjinés
Writer: Jorge Sanjinés, Oscar Zambrano
1973. 118 minutes.
Setting: Perú, 1970s
Language: Spanish
Availability: none
A terrorist group arrives at an Andean town to recruit volunteers, promising to free them from exploitation. They demonstrate their earnestness by executing an hacienda owner and his chief. This is one of the films Jorge Sanjines made while in exile. His other films are listed under Bolivia.

Sinopsis en español:
Un grupo de guerrilleros llega a una comunidad indígena con la intención de reclutar voluntarios. Para demostrar que quieren liberarlos de la explotación, fusilan a un hacendado y a su capataz por sus crímenes y abusos. Sin embargo, cuando tienen que huir ante la proximidad del ejército, son pocos los que los siguen.



KUKULI
Directors: Luis Figueroa, Eulogio Nishiyama, and Cesar Villanueva
Writers: Hernan Velarde, Lucho Figueroa, Cesar Villanueva
Quechua Dialogue: Hernán Velarde
Cinematography: Eulogio Nishiyama
Editing: Ricardo Nitzal
Music: Armando Guevara Ochoa, Leopoldo La Rosa (conductor), Pueblo de Paucartambo
1961. 67 minutes.
Setting: Paucartambo, a town near Cusco
Language: dialogue in Quechua, narration in Spanish
Indian Content: high
Availability: not available
lousy ok good very good

Kukuli, a young llama herder, leaves her grandparents in the countryside of Cusco to attend the Feast of Mamacha Carmen in the town of Paucartambo. On the way she meets Alaku, a mestizo who has lost his land. He seduces her, and they decide to enter into servinakuy (trial marriage). Continuing their journey to Paucartambo, they consult a brujo with a llama skeleton hung outside his house. Reading the coca leaves, the brujo notes Alaku's lack of a home and declares that death accompanies them. Fleeing in fear, the couple reach Paucartambo and participate in the festival. A priest asks Alaku to ring the bell at the top of the church tower. A man in a bear costume, blending in with the festivities, follows Alaku up the tower and throws him to the ground, killing him. The bear man then pursues Kukuli through the parade, captures her, and carries her off into the hills. The priest declares this calamity to be the fault of the townspeople's sins, and he orders them to kill the demon bear man in atonement. They attack the culprit with stones and farm tools, and when they remove his mask they find he is really a bear, the Ukuku of Andean myth who attacks young women. (For a more sympathetic view of this creature, see Ukuku below under Short Films).

Kukuli is a simple, beautiful film celebrating the culture of the Cusco region, showing many folkways--the festival, the trial marriage, the apacheta (custom of placing a stone upon a pile while traveling), honoring the apus (mountain spirits), kissing the ground before entering a new town, and the saqra dance unique to Paucartambo. This was the first full-length film made by Cine Club Cusco, founded in 1955 by Luis Figueroa, Eulogio Nishiyama, Cesar Villanueva, and Victor and Manuel Chambi (sons of the great Cusco photographer Martin Chambi). Cine Club Cusco mostly made documentaries, and Kukuli shows that influence with its emphasis on folkways. Indeed, the scant plot seems constructed specifically to document and celebrate Quechua culture.

Sinopsis en español:
La pastora Kukuli, que vive en las alturas del Cusco, emprende un viaje para participar en la fiesta de la Mamacha Carmen. En el camino encuentra a Alaku, campesino con quién se une en Sevinacuy (matrimonio de prueba). En la ruta un brujo les predice la muerte. Al llegar a las fiestas Kukuli es raptada por el oso Ukuku, que mata a Alaku y finalmente la sacrifica. Al morir Kukuli se transforma en una llama Blanca y Alaku en una llama negra. Los habitantes del lugar matan al oso Ukuku, como modo de espiar sus pecados.

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Cast:
Kukuli - Judith Figueroa
Alaku - Victor Chambi
Machula (abuelo) - Felix Valeriano
Mamala (abuela) - Martina Mamani
Brujo - Simon Chambi
Ukuku - Lizardo Perez
Priest - Emilio Galli



Kuntur Wachana

KUNTUR WACHANA
Donde nacen los cóndores

Director/writer: Federico García [Hurtado]
Cinematography: Jorge Suarez, Pierre Maury
Music: Celso Garrido Lecca, Conjunto Tarpuy, Conjunto Korillacta
Editing: Alberto Borello
1977. 90 minutes.
Setting: Cusco, 1958-1969
Availability: not available

This film tells the history of campesino struggles in Cusco in the 1950s and 1960s. The shaman Saturnino Huillca comes to Huaran, a fuedal-style hacienda in the Sacred Valley, to organize a union and help the campesinos regain their land. He contacts the old shepherd Mariano Quispe, and they undertake a vengeful struggle against the landowners. When Quispe is poisoned and dies, the union is dissolved. Years later a group of young farmers led by José Zúñiga Letona and Rubén Ascue begin the struggle anew. After many punishments and persecutions, the land is turned into a cooperative.

No idea where to find this film, but you can hear selections from the soundtrack here:
pacoweb.net/Cantatas/KunturWacha.htm

Sinopsis en español:
Saturnino Huillca, viejo chamán indígena, llega al Valle Sagrado de los Incas en el Cusco, con el propósito de organizar un sindicato y preparar a los campesinos para recuperar sus tierras. Contacta con Mariano Quispe, anciano pastor de ovejas, organizan la "invasión" y emprenden la lucha reinvindicativa. Quispe muere envenenado, se desata la represión y el sindicato es aniquilado. Años después jóvenes comuneros encabezados por José Zúñiga Letona y Rubén Ascue recomienzan la lucha que concluye, luego de escarmientos y persecuciones, en su conversión en cooperativa agraria. Muerto el nuevo líder en un confuso incidente, la cooperativa decide llevar su nombre.


Laulico

LAULICO
Director/writer: Federico García [Hurtado]
Cinematography: Pierre Maury
Music: Carlos Hayre, Ricardo Eyzaguirre, Talleres de la Cancion Popular, Escuela Nacional de Musica
1979. 84 minutes.
Setting: Fuerabamba (Andean village in southern Peru)
Language: Quechua; some Spanish
Indian content: medium
Availability: not available
lousy ok good

Legend tells that Fuerabamba suffered a drought when the Spanish conquerors captured the Wamani, the spirit of the land, and imprisoned him in their hacienda. Ever since then, the Fuerabambinos lost their role as farmers and became abigeos, or cattle thieves. For generations they tried to attack the hacienda and free the imprisoned spirit, but they were always driven back. Laulico's father led a failed attempt, and now Laulico, chief of the community (played by Monorato Ascue) leads another attack and succeds in taking the hacienda. But he doesn't find the Wamani, and instead he incurs the wrath of the white people, who crucify Girucha, Laulico's childhood friend. The community must then decide whether to continue to search for the Wamani, and whether or not to renew their attack on the hacienda. Laulico sports a great soundtrack of Andean music, and the actors are from the communities of Fuerabamba and neighboring villages. The film was dedicated to novelist José María Arguedas.

Sinopsis en español:
En Fuerabamba, según el mito, la tierra se secó desde que, en tiempos remotos, el Wamani de la comunidad fue capturado por los conquistadores ibéricos y hecho prisionero en la hacienda Pamparqui. Por esta razón, los fuerabambinos perdieron su condición de agricultores y se convirtieron en abigeos. Durante generaciones trataron de asaltar la hacienda para liberar al dios prisionero y recuperar su condición de agricultores, pero siempre fueron rechazados. Laulico, jefe de la cominidad, logra tomar la hacienda pero luego se desata sobre él y su pueblo una feroz represión.


Madeinusa DVD

MADEINUSA
Director/writer: Claudia Llosa
Cinematography: Raúl Pérez Ureta
Music: Selma Mutal
2005. 103 minutes.
Setting: Manayaycuna (village in Cordillera Blanca)
Language: Spanish; some songs in Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good

In the small village of Manayaycuna, in the Cordillera Blanca region of Peru, Holy Week is celebrated as a kind of Saturnalia. They believe that from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, God is asleep and sees no sins, therefore nothing is a sin and everything is permitted. The mayor, Don Cayo, plans to devirginize his daughter on this "Tiempo Santo." Madeinusa (played by Magaly Solier) is only 14; her mother ran away to Lima for unexplained reasons, and her sister Chale (Yiliana Chong) is nearly as abusive as her father. Into this cauldron walks Salvador (Carlos J. de la Torre), a young geologist from Lima stopping over on his way to another town. He is arrested for no particular reason, and Madeinusa takes an interest in him, frees him from her father's barn, and arranges to have Salvador deflower her before her father can. Madeinusa is director Claudia Llosa's first film, and also Magalay Solier's first film. It has excellent acting and directing, and plenty of footage of indigenous customs--dancing, singing, religious processions, etc. Solier wrote two of the songs sung in the film. I do not know if there is a community that actually celebrates Holy Week in this way. It may be a custom invented by Llosa, like the potato-in-the-vagina custom in her second film, La Teta Asustada. The notes on the DVD package compare Madeinusa to a western, but it is really more in the gothic tradition: a stranger arrives at a strange town and meets a strange fate. More info and trailer at www.filmmovement.com

Sinopsis en español:
Madeinusa es una niña que vive en un pueblo perdido de la coordillera del Perú, Manayaycuna. Este extraño lugar se distingue por un aspecto en su religiosidad; a partir del Viernes Santo, a las tres de la tarde, cuando Cristo muere crucificado, hasta el Domingo de Resurección, el pueblo entero puede hacer lo que le venga en gana. Durante estos días santos no existe el pecado: Dios está muerto, no les ve. Todo es aceptado y permitido, sin remordimiento alguno. Madeinusa, su hermana Chale, y su padre, Don Cayo, alcalde y mandamás del pueblo, conservan esta tradición sin cuestionarla, pero todo esto se verá perturbado con la llegada de Salvador, un joven limeño que se ve obligado a permanecer en el pueblo los días del "Tiempo Santo", lapso en que Dios no ve.


El pecado

EL PECADO
(The Sin)

Director/writer: Palito Ortega Matute
2007. 90 minutes.
Setting: Acocro (village 3 hours from Huamanga, Ayacucho)
Language: Spanish
Availability: no DVD yet


In Acocro, an indigenous community in Ayacucho, a 12-year-old boy discovers his sexual inclinations as he begins trying on his mother's clothes and playing with his sister's doll. His brothers abuse him, so he flees to Lima. At 18 he returns to Huamanga (the city near Acocro where his family moved after the terrorism of the 1980s) to reunite with his father, but finds the rest of his family as intolerant as ever. Info & trailer: cineperucine.blogspot.es

Sinopsis en español:
En una comunidad campesina de los andes del Perú, un niño de 12 años descubre sus inclinaciones sexuales, por lo que su manifestación lo lleva a experimentar inocentemente, actitudes no propias de un varón, juega con muñecas de su hermana, se viste con las prendas de su madre y recibe caricias de un hombre mayor. Sus hermanos Serafín y Esteban se han dado cuenta de los modos de su menor hermano, “Sé esta convirtiendo en maricón” (homosexual) es el argumento de los hermanos para intentar recuperar la masculinidad del niño golpeándolo salvajemente llegando al extremo de intentar asesinarlo arrastrándolo con un tractor por el terreno de cultivo. Enterado del caso el Padre, le brinda su protección y su apoyo, pero los constantes abusos y golpes brutales de sus hermanos hace que huya a la capital Lima. Eduardo a los 18 años decide retornar a Huamanga, lugar donde su familia se ha instalado huyendo de su pueblo por el terrorismo, tiene como misión encontrar a su padre, quien para entonces se ha convertido en un viejo enfermo, el Padre sorprendido lo acoge y presenta a la familia en su actual condición de transformista, el rechazo de los hermanos y de la Madre es unánime, Serafín y Esteban se encargan de castigar a Yahaira, quien ha tomado este nuevo nombre de mujer. Yahaira toma su destino por su cuenta, la prostitucion callejera es una opción para sobrevivir, pero la sociedad incomprensible e intolerante y las actitudes homofóbicas de los habitantes lo marginan y castigan constantemente dejándolo al borde de la muerte en reiteradas ocasiones.


El perro del hortelano

EL PERRO DEL HORTELANO
(The Gardener's Dog)

Directors: Renzo Zanelli, Oleg Kheyfets
Writer/cinematographer/editor:
Renzo Zanelli
2009. 98 minutes.
Setting: Madre de Selva (in the Amazon) and Lima
Language: Spanish
Indian content: high
Availability: DVD


This film follows the story of a young Bora-Huitoto painter, Brus, as he discovers a unique path to helping his community resist the encroaching Petrol Company that threatens the future of their ancestral lands as well as their culture in the Madre de Dios rainforest of Peru. His work has just premiered at the most prestigious gallery in Lima showcasing psychedelic Amazonian jungle art from “indigenous artists”. But Brus is not interested in ascending the ranks of haute culture. Instead he has reached an ideological impasse about his own culture. The oil company is going to drill in his village, and throughout their ancestral lands. He seeks support at a local NGO and finds himself entangled in the subversive work of an American researcher, Angie. Ultimately, Brus navigates his way through the surreal world of “development” pioneers, well-to-do volunteers, and corporate strategists discovering his own way of bringing strength to his community.
You can order the DVD from the film's website:
www.perrodelhortelano.com

Sinopsis en español:
El Perro del Hortelano es una comedia que narra los intentos de Brus, un artista indígena, por organizar su comunidad contra una empresa petrolera estadounidense, Kenny Oil, que busca expander sus operaciones en territorios intangibles. En busca de respuestas, Brus se une a una ONG local, y se enreda en el trabajo subversivo de una investigadora norteamericana, Angie. Conforme va adentrandose en el mundo surrealista de los voluntarios y "expertos" en desarrollo, él encuentra su propia manera de llevar la fuerza a su comunidad.


POSTALES
(Postcards)

Director/writer: Josh Hyde
Cinematography: Dan Fischer
Music: Michael Deller
Editing: Evan Smith
2010. 80 minutes.
Setting: Cusco
Language: English, Spanish, Quechua
Indian content: medium-high
Availability: not yet on DVD
lousy ok good very good

A white family from the U.S. comes to Cusco to survey a plot of land where they plan to build a hotel. The poor Quechua family living in a shack on the land are informed that they must move out in three days. The two teen boys make a living on the streets, the older one, Jano, by pickpocketing, and the younger, Pablo, by selling postcards. In a series of coincidences, each brother ends up meeting the same-aged daughter of the U.S. family. Jaro seduces the older girl, and she waits for her family to spend the day in Sacsaywaman so she can bring him up to their hotel room. The story between the younger boy and younger girl is more tender. Pablo returns the wallet that Jano has stolen from the girl's father, and they spend the day strolling through beautiful Cusco as the girl arrives at an understanding of the poverty lurking behind every corner of the city's tourist charm. Postales is a little on the "messagy" side, but the sweet story, compelling pacing, and an honest view of this great city with all its contradicions make the film a success.
Official site: postales-themovie.com

Sinopsis en español:
Un chico que vende postales en las calles de Cusco encuentra el amor en una chica estadounidense. La temática abarca los encuentros interculturales que se dan en esta ciudad y sus implicancias. El director optó por usar tanto actores profesionales, como no-actores más cercanos a la relidad de los personajes.


Sangre y tradicion

SANGRE Y TRADICION
(Blood and Tradition)

Director/writer: Nilo Inga
2005. 80 minutes.
Setting: Huáchac, a town in Junin
Language: Spanish
Availability: none


Liz and Ramiro make love in the mountains as they wait for the New Year festivities. The evil Naqak (Pishtaco) rapes and kills Liz. Ramiro escapes and hides with his friends, but Liz's blood lies in the earth without peace. Ramiro must spill the blood of her killer to allow her spirit to rest.

Sinopsis en español:
Sangre y tradición es un homenaje a la huachaquinos como raza guerrera, que por medio del Auquish perpetúan su condición, la rememoran en el tiempo. Liz y Ramiro disfrutan de su amor en los hermosos parajes de la serranía, esperando las festividades de año nuevo para participar en las costumbres del pueblo. El malvado Naqak o Pishtaco rapta y descuartiza a Liz. Ramiro aterrado por el hecho escapa buscando refugio en sus amigos. La sangre de Liz retumba en el vientre de la tierra sin encontrar paz, por la cual Ramiro, por pedido de su amada, bajo la sombra de un sueño, tendrá que derramar la sangre del asesino y dejar que el espíritu de Liz pueda descansar tranquilamente.


Secret of the Incas DVD

SECRET OF THE INCAS

Director: Jerry Hopper
Writers: Ranald MacDougall, Sydney Boehm
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Music: David Buttolph, Moises Vivanco
1954. 94 minutes.
Setting: Cusco, Machu Picchu, 1950s
Language: English; some Spanish and Quechua
Indian content: medium
Availability: DVD
lousy ok

Charlton Heston plays Harry Steele, a tour guide and archaeological thief looking for a gold sunburst which disappeared at the time of the fall of the Inca empire and which, when found, will signal the return of the empire. But others are also looking for the sunburst--Steel's rival thief Morgan, a team of archaeologists, and of course the Quechua Indians. Secret of the Incas bears surprising similarities to the Indiana Jones movies, but lags way behind in suspense or action. Filmed on location in Machu Picchu, and filled with throngs of indigenous actors in traditional costumes. Secret of the Incas may be most famous for a performance by Peru's legendary singer Yma Sumac. This scene is actually poorly synced, and her operatic style seems grotesquely out of place against the rugged Andean landscape.


Sin Sentimiento poster

SIN SENTIMIENTO
El ultimo amanecer
(Without Feeling: The Last Dawn)

Director: Jesús Contreras
Writers: Jesús Contreras, Jean Carlo López, Rolando Sotil
Cinematography/Editing: Jean Carlo López
Music: Porfirio Ayvar
2007. 100 minutes.
Setting: Pampa Cangallo (village in Ayacucho)
Language: Spanish
Availability: none


A tiny village in the mountains of Ayacucho is beset with a series of murders. The people suspect Jorge, a merchant passing through the village. The timid Crisilda, sister of the richest businessman in the village, falls in love with Jorge and decides to run off with him. Her brother raises a lynch party to pursue them.
Website: zankayproducciones.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/sin-sentimiento-ayacucho-2007
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIKeYl6aYfE


Sinopsis en español:
Crisilda es una joven campesina tímida y poco sociable por los celos enfermizos de su hermano Fortunato, un conocido y próspero negociante que tiene un gran poder de influencia sobre el pueblo que se verá consternado por una serie de asesinatos que ocurren esporádicamente ante la pasividad con la que las autoridades actúan. El desenlace final será un nuevo amanecer para cada uno de los personajes y una nueva vida para la protagonista Crisilda.
Elenco: Heidy La Rosa (Crisilda), Porfirio Ayvar (Mario), Eduardo Alonso (Jorge), Ivan Espinosa (Fortunato), Ladislao Parra (Francisco) y Olinda Caballero (Teófila).


El ultimo guerrero Chanka

EL ÚLTIMO GUERRERO CHANKA
(The Last Chanka Warrior)

Director: Víctor Zarabia
Writers: Víctor Zarabia, Ángel Sihui
Cinematography: Daniel Segura
Editing: Michèle André
Music: Jorge Luís Morales
2011.
Setting: Andahuaylas
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Availability: not yet on DVD

500 years ago there existed a race of warriors called the Chankas, who sacrificed a witch who vowed that he would return to take revenge on them. Five millennia later, two archaeology students discover strange signs in ancient rocks. The time has come for the evil being to free himself and unleash his fury. The Chancay were a genuine culture that flourished in Lima between 800 and 1400 A.D. and left behind a distinctive, comical style of pottery, but El último guerrero Chanka dispenses with history to present a mash-up of fantasy, horror and martial arts films.
Official website (in Spanish): zzzetafilm.com
Interview with the director (in Spanish):
cinencuentro.com/2011/01/06/el-ultimo-guerrero-chanka-victor-zarabia

Sinopsis en español:
Hace más de quinientos años atrás existió una raza de guerreros llamados Los Chankas, ellos le sacrificaron cruelmente a un hechicero; y éste juro vengarse gritando al infierno que volvería aun después de la muerte a vengarse. Cinco milenios después, dos estudiantes de arqueología en una expedición enigmática, descubren señales extrañas en unas piedras antiguas con mensajes de hace miles de años. Un cazador en medio de un bosque misterioso. El tiempo ha llegado: la promesa del maléfico ser se ha desatado al cumplirse los quinientos años y la vida de los dos aventureros está en peligro, pero la mala suerte también llega para el cazador cuando le asesina a sangre fría a su esposa y éste se convierte en el último guerrero Chanka. Un ritual que desata la furia del hechicero. El guerrero Chanka combate con los súbditos del mal. Y el último sacrificio se desata en una pelea que decidirá el destino de toda una raza.


EL VIENTO DEL AYAHUASCA
Director/writer: Nora de Izcue
Cinematography: Jorge Vignati, Gianfranco Annichini
Music: Luis David Aguilar
1983. 85 or 108 minutes (?)
Setting: Iquitos; Amazon
Language: Spanish, some Quechua
Availability: not available

Miguel (played by Johnny Palacios), a Lima sociologist visiting Iquitos, meets Nexy (Silvia Chavez Toro), an Amazonian native. Miguel finds that Nexy has many phobias, including a fear of Yacurunas, mythic creatures of the Amazon. To cure her fears the couple seek the help of Meliton (Meliton Delgado), a curandero, who administers an ayahuasca ritual and helps her relive her infancy and the destruction of her home. After Nexy disappears, Miguel submits to the ayahuasca ritual to better understand the beliefs of the Amazon people. El viento del ayahuasca is Nora de Izcue's only fiction film; she has made several documentaries on indigenous peoples of Peru, the Agrarian reform, and the Fujimori administration. Viento del ayahuasca is seemingly impossible to find, but there is a clip on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCyt9tGZ0kM

Sinopsis en español:
Miguel, sociólogo limeño, conoce en Iquitos a Nexy, joven del lugar. Ella tiene inexplicables terrores de los Yacurunas, seres mitológicos de la amazonía. Miguel la ayuda a superar sus miedos con el ayahuasca, que le suministra en forma ritual el curandero Melitón. Nexy tiene visiones: ve su infancia y asiste a la destrucción de la cabaña donde vivió su familia. Despus del ritual, Miguel y Nexy se internan en la selva para seguir el tratamiento, pero Nexy desaparece. Miguel participa en las ceremonias y va comprendiendo el significado de los ritos y creencias del lugar.

EL SENDERO LUMINOSO / SHINING PATH:
Boca del lobo VHS

LA BOCA DEL LOBO
(The Wolf's Mouth)

Director: Francisco J. Lombardi
1988. 128 minutes.
Setting: Chuspi, a village in the Andes, 1983
Language: Spanish, some Quechua
Indian content: medium
Availability: VHS or region 2 DVD
lousy ok good very good

El Sendero Luminoso has visited the Indian village of Chuspi, leaving behind their flag and threatening graffiti. The Peruvian army is sent in to apprehend the Senderistas (we never see them on screen) or its sympathizers. One of the soldiers rapes a girl in the village, and when she reports him to the lieutenant, the lieutenant covers up the incident. When the same soldier tries to crash a village party and is thrown out, the lieutentant once again feels he has to cover up for him, leading to a series of events that culminates in horrors. A terrifying cautionary tale of the machismo that turns armies into marauders as evil as the enemy they were sent to defeat. The official English title is "The Lion's Den," though the original Spanish title means "The Wolf's Mouth."

Sinopsis en español:
La historia tiene lugar en Chuspi, un pequeño pueblo de la "zona de emergencia" asolado por el movimiento Sendero Luminoso. Un grupo del ejército, bajo el mando de un oficial violento y arbitrario, debe aniquilar el terrorismo a cualquier precio. Una visión acerca de la lucha antisubversiva y sus excesos. Un estudio de lo que el hombre es capaz de hacer cuando se siente aislado en un clima de violencia, hostigado por la soledad y la muerte.


NI CON DIOS NI CON EL DIABLO
(With Neither God nor the Devil)

Director/writer/cinematographer: Nilo Pereira del Mar
Music: Raúl Pereira del Mar
Editing: Hitler Mego
1989. 90 minutes.
Setting: Pachacayo (Andean village); Lima
Language: Spanish
Indian content: high
Availability: VHS
lousy ok good

Jeremías Ayunque (played by Marino Leon, who starred in Gregorio and its sequel Anda, Corre, Vuela,), is a 16-year old alpaca herder in Pampamayo. One day he finds that an alpaca as delivered a two-headed calf. The village shaman interprets the omen to mean that God and the Devil have made a pact against Jeremias. When Shining Path terrorists come to the village, it looks as if the omen may come true, and Jeremias flees his mountain home, heading for Lima. On the way he finds a job as a stone-cutter in the frozen mountains, which he can only endure for one day. Once he arrives in Lima, he seeks the help of his godfather to get a job as a construction site security guard. One night he is mugged, and when he returns to work he finds that the site has been burglarized and he loses his job. Finally, Jeremias finds a job as a butler at a wealthy police chief's home. But here he learns that he is wanted as a narcoterrorist for his presumed assocation with the Shining Path--the people who drove him to Lima in the first place! As the title suggests, Ni con Dios ni con el diablo is a pessimistic film (an unfortunate trend in Latin American movies of the 70s, 80s, and 90s). Occasional comic relief comes with his stint as a butler, when he learns how to use a telephone and tries champagne for the first time.

The Shining Path only play a brief role on the screen, but the the film effectively shows the fate of thousands of campesinos who were driven from the countryside by the group's violence and swelled Lima's urban sprawl to its limits. Like Antuca and Gregorio, it is an epic of the Indian arriving in the Big City. Unlike many other films on the Shining Path, however, Ni con Dios does show some of the more positive side of the socialist efforts of the time. The friends who help him get to Lima, for instance, are pamphleteers supporting unions.

Sinopsis en español:
Jeremías, joven pastor de una comunidad andina, escucha el presagio siniestro del brujo de la comunidad. Poco después una unidad de Sendero Luminoso llega a la comunidad y asesina a las autoridades. Los senderistas le asignan a Jeremías unas funciones que no cumplirá. Al llegar el ejército tiene que huir. Parte hacia Lima en busca de su padrino, desempeña varios trabajos pero tiene que huir constantemente perseguido por la policía. Poco a poco se da cuenta que el presagio se cumple y que Lima es una ciudad maldita.


La vida es una sola

LA VIDA ES UNA SOLA
(You Only Live Once)

Director: Marianne Eyde
Writers: Alonso Alegria, Marianne Eyde
Cinematography: César Pérez
Music: Esteban Ttupa, Comunidad de Casiri, Ccachín
1993. 85 minutes.
Setting: Rayopampa (fictional Andean village), 1983
Language: Spanish, some Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: not available in U.S.
lousy ok good very good

Three college students visit the mountain village of Rayopampa during a carnival. They partake of the festivities, and a local girl, Florinda, falls in love with Marcelino, one of the visitors. The visitors begin talking about organizing the community, and the villagers realize that these are members of the Sendero Luminoso. The community leaders debate whether to report the visitors to the local authorities. Before they can settle the issue, the authorities have arrived, sniffing out trouble. They demand food and then go away. The next day, Teodisio, the community president, receives a death threat for feeding the authorities, the oppressors, and they find a communist flag and graffiti. Teodosio goes to the authorities downhill, who rudely deny assistance and tell Teodosio he should be willing to sacrifice his life for his country. The next day, Teodosio's body is found with a sign labelling him a soplón (whistle-blower), and another threat that anyone who buries him will also die. When the Sendero Luminoso returns, they recruit several villagers, including children, into their army, and a clash between the Senderistas and the Defensa Civil breaks out. Of all the films on the Shining Path, La vida es una sola is the most harrowing, showing how both the terrorists and the government claimed the campesinos as their own, but were equally cruel in disregarding their lives and safety. Yet it is also beautiful at times, with its lovely folk tunes and occasionally poetic dialogue, and the final moving scene when Florinda is ousted from the community.

Director Marianne Eyde was born in Norway and moved to Peru in the 70s and founded Kusi Films. She filmed this movie--her third--in the community of Ccachín in Calca Province, Cusco, and used local, non-professional actors for most of the parts as well as the music. Thus the scenery, costumes, rituals, and festivities are all very authentic (although the people of Ccachín probably speak more Quechua than they do in the film). Cinematographer César Pérez also worked with Jorge Sanjines, and through constant, circular movement he gives this film that same newsreel feeling of urgency and inevitability that animates Sanjines' work.

Cast:
Florinda - Milagros del Carpio
Marcelino - Jiliat Zambrano
El Tigre (defensa civil) - Aristoteles Picho
Meche (senderista) - Rosa Maria Olortegui

Sinopsis en español:
Historia de amor que se desarrolla en medio de las contradicciones entre la comunidad índigena, el terrorismo y las fuerzas del orden. La comunidad campesina vive entre dos fuegos, Sendero Luminoso y las fuerzas militares de la zona. A partir de una oposición dramática muy nítida, Eyde narra con sobriedad y justeza, dirige con acierto a los actores, valoriza el espacio andino en una cámara en permanente movimiento y ofrece un valioso testimonio de la violencia en los años de guerra interna en Perú.



Dancer Upstairs DVD

THE DANCER UPSTAIRS
Director: John Malkovich
Writer: Nicholas Shakespeare
Cinematographer: José Luis Alcaine
Music: Alberto Iglesias
2002. 132 minutes. Rated R. 1.85:1
Setting: Perú, 1980s
Language: English, some Quechua and Spanish
Indian content: low
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good

A big-budget U.S. production with A-list actors Javier Bardem and Juan Diego Botto, The Dancer Upstairs puts a police-story/love-story spin on the terrorist reign of The Shining Path. Based on the novel by English author Nicholas Shakespeare, the film doesn't mention The Shining Path or even Peru by name, but it is closely based on the real events, the major fictional departure being a love interest between the detective (Bardem) and the woman harboring the leader of the terrorist group. Bardem's character is part Indian and speaks Quechua, and Indigenous actors speaking Quechua are used for some minor roles. It's a fine film, complex and subtle, but too Hollywoodish and North American in its references, actors, and soundtrack. U.S. audiences could have handled a more authentically Latin American ambience, as they did with John Sayles' Men with Guns (set in Guatemala.) The most serious flaw in the film is that all the Indian characters are portrayed as absolutely devoted to the Shining Path. One character says of their leader, "He is the wind in every tree". The children in La vida es una sola (below) are required to recite such pieties, but in The Dancer Upstairs the Indians do so willingly, even fervently. We never see the Shining Path's horrifying recruiting practices. Even when the detective travels to his home town, an Indigenous village where his father once owned a coffee farm, we see no trace of dissidence, only militant revolutionaries. The film fails to portray the Indians as humans except for the mestizo detective played by a high-profile Spanish actor.

Sinopsis en español:
El agente de policía Agustín Rejas recibe el encargo de capturar al famoso líder guerrillero Ezequiel, principal impulsor de una revolución campesina que amenaza con llegar a las ciudades y provocar la caída del gobierno.


Paloma de papel DVD

PALOMA DE PAPEL
(Paper Dove)

Director: Fabrizio Aguilar
Writers: Fabrizio Aguilar, Gianfranco Annichini
Cinematographer: Micaela Cajahuaringa
Music: Irene Vivanco
Editor: Enrique Rio
2003. 90 minutes.
Setting: an Andean village, 1980s
Language: Spanish
Indian content: medium-high
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good

A village in the Andes is terrorized by El Sendero Luminoso. Three children are kidnapped and forced to proclaim their allegiance to El Sendero. This film tells a very similar story to that of La vida es una sola, but with higher production values, more like a mainstream Hollywood movie. The tale is told through the reminiscences of a man who has spent 20 years in prison for his involvement with the Sendero, even though he was only eleven when they forcibly recruited him. Many viewers will prefer this film to La vida es una sola, though I prefer Marianne Eyde's earlier, grittier effort.

Sinopsis en español:
Juan, un niño de once años, vive una infancia pobre pero tranquila al lado de sus amigos Pacho y Rosita. La paz se termina cuando su padre es asesinado y el muchacho descubre que Fermín, su padrastro, está implicado en el crimen. Fermín entrega a Juan a los terroristas para garantizar su silencio. Así empieza la tragedia de un niño que, como tantos otros, tiene su infancia robada y es obligado a integrar las huestes terroristas. Entrenado para matar sin piedad, Juan no se acostumbra a su nueva condición y huye, ya joven, a su pueblo para alertar sobre la llegada de los asesinos. Nadie le cree.


La teta asustada
LA TETA ASUSTADA
(The Milk of Sorrow)

Director/writer: Claudia Llosa
Cinematography: Natasha Braier
Music: Selma Mutal, Los Destellos de Edith Delgado (chicha band), Los Pakines, La Sarita, Magaly Solier
2009. 100 minutes. 1:1.85.
Setting: Lima
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: DVD
lousy ok good very good
Fausta (played by Magaly Solier) is a melancholy young woman who becomes even more depressed after her mother dies. When her uncle takes her to the doctor because of her fainting spells, the doctor tells the uncle that Fausta has an infection because she keeps a potato in her vagina (which she believes will keep men from touching her). But her uncle explains that her illness is "la teta asustada" (literally "the astonished tit"), a disease transmitted through the milk of mothers who were raped or abused during Peru's terrorist war. Fausta remembers watching her mother's rape from inside the womb, and believes that her soul has hidden in the ground ever since. In order to raise money to take her mother's body back to her hometown for burial, Fausta must overcome her fear of the outside and accept a job as a maid at "The Big House," the home of a wealthy concert pianist. The pianist, a cold woman, has writers' block and plagiarizes the folksongs she hears Fausta singing in Spanish and Quechua (Magaly Solier wrote many of these songs herself). The elderly gardener Noé (Efraín Solís), also employed at the Big House, gently helps Fausta overcome her fear of men. This slow-paced film is full of symbolism and rewards the patient, perceptive viewer. La teta asustada is director Claudia Llosa's second feature, and her second collaboration with Magaly Solier (see Madeinusa above).

Sinopsis en español:
Fausta padece una muy conocida enfermedad, llamada “teta asustada”, una enfermedad que se transmite por la leche materna de las mujeres que fueron violadas o maltratadas durante la guerra del terrorismo del Sendero Luminoso en Perú. La guerra se terminó hace tiempo, pero Fausta vive recordándola a causa de su enfermedad, “la enfermedad del miedo”, que le ha robado el alma. La muerte de su madre la pondrá en una situación extrema, teniendo que enfrentarse a sus miedos y al secreto que oculta con más recelo. Y es que se ha introducido una papa en la vagina, a modo de escudo, ya que sólo el asco detiene a los asquerosos. La película, de algún modo, cuenta la búsqueda de un florecer, un viaje del miedo a la libertad.

THE GRUPO CHASKI TRILOGY
Gregorio DVD

GREGORIO
Directors: Grupo Chaski
Cinematography: Alejandro Legaspi
Music: Arturo Ruiz del Pozo
Editing: Alejandro Legaspi, Stefan Kaspar
1984. 85 minutes.
Setting: Andean village; and Lima
Language: Spanish, some Quechua
Indian content: medium
Availability: Grupo Chaski (no subtitles)
lousy ok good very good

An Andean family moves from their ancestral mountain village to Lima in order to find work, and they experience a culture shock at the noise, confusion, and inhuman sprawl of the city. When the father dies, the son, Gregorio (Marino León de la Torre), must work as a shoeshine boy, making a long daily trek from the shantytown slums to the city center. Working on the streets, he befriends a gang of street punks and is lured into a life of petty crime. The film begins in Quechua and switches abruptly to Spanish upon arrival in the metropolis, and the story is occasionally interspersed with scenes of a slightly older Gregorio facing the camera and telling what he has learned from his experiences. Thus the film has a documentary feel to it, which the filmmakers gradually move away from in the next two films in the series, Juliana and Anda, Corre, Vuela.

Sinopsis en español:
Gregorio, un niño de doce años, es el hijo mayor de una familia tradicional campesina que se ve obligada a emigrar a la capital. Tras la muerte de su padre se verá obligado a integrar una banda de niños de la calle que cometen hurtos y ocasionalmente se involucran en el negocio de la droga, tras ser arrestados, Gregorio huye con el botín que le ofrece a su madre para reconciliarse, pero esta lo rechaza. Gregorio tendrá entonces que replanteare toda su vida.


Juliana VHS

JULIANA
Directors: Fernando Espinoza, Alejandro Legaspi
Writer: Rene Weber
Cinematography: Danny Gavidia
Music: Jose Barcenas
Editing: Roberto Aponte
1988. 85 minutes.
Setting: Lima, 1980s
Language: Spanish
Indian content: medium-low
Availability: Grupo Chaski (no subtitles)
lousy ok good very good

Juliana (played by Rosa Isabel Morffino) is a 13-year-old girl who sells flowers at the cemetery. Envying the more freewheeling life of her little brother, she abandons her mother and stepfather and disguises herself as a boy to join her little brother's street gang, led by the creepy Don Pedro and his sidekick Cobra. They sell cigarettes, perform on buses, whatever brings in a little money to hand over to Don Pedro for the privilege of living in his hideout. Juliana shows hardly any trace of Indian culture, as these slum kids are disconnected from their ancestral inheritance by the forces of poverty and neglect. Although the two films are not related, the main characters of Juliana and Gregorio come together in the film Anda, Corre, Vuela. The film won awards in Berlin, Biarritz, and Huelva, Spain.

Sinopsis en español:
Juliana es una niña que vive de la venta de flores robadas del cementerio. Su hermano canta en los autobuses por dinero que entrega a un hombre que explota a niños a cambio de ofrecerles casa y comida. Juliana quiere entrar al grupo pero su sexo se lo impide, para lograrlo se disfraza de hombre. Una vez que entra en el grupo su vida es errante y desarraigada recorre Lima viviendo de pequeños hurtos.


Anda, Corre, Vuela DVD

ANDA, CORRE, VUELA
(Go, Run, Fly)

Director: Augusto Tamayo San Román
Writer: José Watanabe
Cinematography: Danny Gavidia
Music: Herman Condori
Editing: Gianfranco Annichini
1994. 90 minutes.
Setting: Lima, 1980s
Language: Spanish
Indian content: medium-low
Availability: Grupo Chaski (no subtitles)
lousy ok good

Gregorio and Juliana, now 19 and 21, are young adults faced with the meager opportunities available to people in Lima in the 1990s, when the armed forces and the communist terrorist group El Sendero Luminoso ripped the country apart in civil war. With humor and creativity Gregorio and Juliana learn to survive in this violent world. The rock soundtrack and action-movie-style editing are quite a stretch from the quasi-documentary style of Gregorio, thereby creating a sense of completion to the trilogy, which traces the path of Indian integration into mainstream society, for better or for worse.

Sinopsis en español:
Historia de amor de dos jóvenes marginales en tiempos de crisis y violencia. Sus destinos empiezan a entrelazarse, a pesar de sus diferentes aspiraciones y acomplicarse dada la creciente tensión social por la lucha armada que sostienen las Fuerzas Armadas con el grupo terrorista Sendero Luminoso.


MONSTER MOVIES:
Jarjacha demonio del incesto

JARJARCHA: DEMONIO DEL INCESTO
(Jarjacha: The Incest Demon)

Director/writer: Mélinton Eusebio
2002. 70 minutes.
Setting: unnamed poor village
Language: Spanish; a song in Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: none
lousy ok

Three anthropology students come to a small Andean town to study extreme poverty. They can't find lodging in the town and finally come to the house of a woman weeping over the body of her dead brother. They stay in her home, then help her bring the coffin to the cemetery, since no else is helping her. The next day a dead body is discovered with unusual signs that suggest the activity of the Jarjacha--a demon that sucks fat out of people, and only appears when someone in the town has committed incest. A posse is formed to find the sinners, and they capture two llamas, which in the morning turn out to be a man and woman. The incestuous couple is stoned to death, but the jarjacha continues to attack the next day. This is a very low-budget horror flick, sometimes laughably bad, but often more effective than some big-budget horror movies. It also provides an authentic portrayal of Andean folkways (everyone is chewing coca leaves, for instance).

The myth of the incest demon who steals fat from its victims is very common throughout the Andes. Variations of the creature go by the names Qarqacha, Náqak, or Pishtaco (and each name in turn has many spelling variations). The creature has come to be associated with the white man, and is depicted as white in this film. For instance, the white doctors in Altiplano are called pishtacos when mercury poisoning from the mines starts killing people.

Sinopsis en español:
Un grupo de estudiantes llegan a un pobre pueblo a hacer un estudio sobre la pobreza extrema. Allí suceden cosas extrañas, se oyen horribles gruñidos por la noche y aparecen cadáveres... todo parece ser obra de Jarjacha, un demonio que aparece cuando la gente peca de incesto.


Nakaq

NÁKAQ
Director: Jose Huertas
Music: Dúo Toqras
Editing: Luis Aguilar
76 minutes.
Setting: rural town
Language: Spanish
Indian content: high
Availability: none
lousy

This is easily the worst monster movie of the bunch, and one of the most unfathomably awful movies I've ever seen. Nákaq isn't even a monster in this one--that would have been beyond the budget--but just a guy in a cape and hood with some half-assed kung fu moves who attacks people for no particular reason. The village idiot Satuco provides some of the funniest scenes in the movie.

Sinopsis en español:
El Nakaq camina por la selva peruana, y se acerca donde un hombre echa una siesta, al parecer el olor no le agrada y no lo degüella. A cambio va a por otro personaje que se esta bañando en una cascada (oportunamente de espaldas) y le da chicharrón. Vemos a otro hombre pasear por la sierra, lleva una pala, pasea y pasea, masca hojas de coca, cava un poco y se encuentra con la víctima del Nakaq. Del susto pierde el sombrero, sale corriendo y el drama se desata.


Pisthacu

PISTHACU
Director: Jose Antonio Martinez Gamboa
Cinematography: Jose Alejandro Martinez Cox
2003. 74 minutes.
Setting: Ayacucho, 1986
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Indian content: high
Availability: none
lousy

Another variation on the sacamantecas (fat-stealing) creature. This film focuses on a band of townsmen who attempt to capture and the pishtaco, and twice end up killing humans--though one of them was a rapist. One of the townsmen is arrested for taking part in the lynching. The film begins and ends with a framing scenario in which a man at a typewriter tells the story, and concludes that pishtacos exist in the real world in the form of foreigners who come to South America to exploit natural resources. For more info on these movies and the sacamantecas myth, see this blog:
yulifero.blogspot.com/2008/02/el-sacamantecas-de-ayacucho-un-cuento.html


Tunche

TUNCHE: MISTERIOS DE LA SELVA
Director: Nilo Inga H.
Music: Indiogenes; Son Cafe
2006. 51 minutes.
Setting: jungle
Language: Spanish
Indian content: medium
Availability: VCD
lousy ok

A group of medical students go to the jungle to fulfill a research assignment on natural medicine. They ignore the warnings of the indigenous inhabitants and enter a dangerous area where the Tunche dwells. The tunche is a clawed creature who can assume the shape of animals or even the friends of his victims.

Sinopsis en español:
La historia de un grupo de estudiantes de medicina que en un viaje de investigación a la selva peruana conocen la leyenda de "El Tunche". Los incrédulos jóvenes harán caso omiso a las recomendaciones de los lugareños y se internarán en el monte, donde les espera el ataque del sanguinario ser mítico.

FILMS NOT YET REVIEWED:
El Abigeo (Flaviano Quispe, 2001)
Alla ricerca dell'impero sepolto (Gianfranco Parolini, 1988)
Allpakallpa: La fuerza de la tierra (Bernardo Arias, 1974)
Amor en las alturas (Percy Pacco, 2008)
Amor en los andes (Hani Susumu, 1968) [Japanese film]
[A Japanese girl moves to a village in the Andes and learns about their customs. Also known as Bride of the Andes.]
Ashaninka (José María “Chema” Salcedo, 2007)
Bajo el sol de Loreto (1936) (first color film made in Peru)
Buscando a Papa (Flaviano Quispe, 2008, 132 min.)
Caciques (Héctor Marreros, 2005, 90 min.)
[Involucrado el hijo del alcalde en un crimen y como único testigo la pareja del sacerdote de la comunidad, la película muestra el chantaje y el sometimiento de un pueblo a la contaminación del medio ambiente por parte de una empresa minera, el descontento social y la injusticia por el abuso del poder de las autoridades.-->
Camino a la verdad (Elmer Estofanero Fuentes, 2010)
Camino de la venganza (a.k.a. La venganza del Indio) (Luis S. Ugarte Y Narciso Rada, 1922) [Silent movie; considered Peru's first full-length fiction film.]
Casa embrujada (Joseph Lora, 2007)
Casa rosada (Palito Ortega Matute, 2009)
[A family in Ayacucho suffers through the violence of the 1980s. The mother is killed and the father is conscripted into a terrorist group, leaving three children to fend for themselves.]
Coliseo (Alessandro Rossi, 2011)
Con nervios de toro (Nilo Inga, 2010)
[Lucero retorna a su pueblo después de muchos años, para cumplir el Carguyoc (cargo) de realizar la fiesta del pueblo de Llacuas Huáchac. La presencia de Lucero cambiara totalmente la estructura de las festividades por la influencia modernista que trae. Le dará un matiz diferente a las costumbres y tradiciones, sembrando enfrentamientos y contradicciones en la comunidad.]
Cuando el cielo es azul (Sandra Wiese, 2004)
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (Curt Siodmak, 1955) [made in USA]
Dios perdona el pecado, el incesto no (Palito Ortega Matute, 2009)
Dios tarda pero no Olvida II (Palito Ortega Matute, 1999)
El encanto de la sirena (Javier Peralta Durán, 2010)
Encuentro de dos mundos: la otra cara (Héctor Marreros, 2010)
[Comedia andina que parodia el encuentro del conquistador Francisco Pizarro con el Inca Atahualpa.]
Good Bye Pachacutek (Federico Gabriel Garcia, 2006)
Green Hell (James Whale, 1940) [made in U.S.]
Gritos de libertad (Luis Berrocal, 2003)
Hercules vs. the Sons of the Sun (Osvaldo Civirani, 1964)
El hijo prodigo: una pelicula huancaina (Daniel Nunez Duran)
Huaca (Nilo Inga, 2000, 73 min.)
Huerfanito (Flaviano Quispe, 2004)
Incesto en los Andes: La maldicion de los jarjachas (Palito Ortega Matute, 2002)
Jarjacha III (Palito Ortega Matute) Jarjacha vs. Pishtaco: La batalla final (Nilo Escriba Palomino)
Lagrimas de fuego (José Gabriel Huertas, 1996)
Lengua de los zorros (Federico García Hurtado, 1991)
Leyenda del condenado (Cine Aymara, 2011) website
La maldición de los Jarjachas II (Palito Ortega Matute, 2003)
Maracio, el sentir de los pobres (Rondolfo Mamani Mogrovejo, 2011)
Marcados por el destino (Oscar Gonzales, 2009) (website)
Milagroso Udilberto Vásquez (Héctor Marreros, 2006)
El Misterio del Kharisiri (Henry Vallejos, 2004)
Mónica, más alla de la muerte (Roger Acosta, 2008)
Objetos (Rafael Arevalo, 2011)
Ofelia (Humberto Gutiérrez Montero, 2007, 11 min.)
El rincón de los inocentes (Palito Ortega Matute, 2005)
Los Ronderos (Marianne Eyde, 1987, 74 min.)
[Based on real events in Chota, Cajamarca, 1978-1980.]
Sangre de selva (Ricardo Villarán, 1937)
Sangre inocente (Palito Ortega Matute, 2000)
Taita Cristo (Espina de Cristo) (Guillermo Fernández Jurado, 1965)
[This film was never commercially released. Based on the 1960 short story collection Tayta Cristo by Eleodoro Vargas Vicuña, it dealt with drought, incest, and a human scapegoat in a small coastal town.]
Los Taitas (Héctor Marreros, 2004, 80 min.)
[Los taitas es una historia conformada por varias situaciones que diariamente se repiten en la sierra. Los campesinos viven únicamente del producto de su trabajo en las chacras y el servicio militar obligatorio se convierte en un problema que los aleja del trabajo.]
Terror in the Jungle (Tom DeSimone, 1968)
Tesoro de Atahualpa (Roberto Saá Silva, 1924) (made in Ecuador but set in Peru)
Todas las sangres (Michel Gómez, 1987) (Based on the novel by José María Arguedas)
Tramontana (Carlos Pérez Ferré, 1991)
Uma, cabeza de bruja (Lalo Parra Bello, 2005)
[Un profesor y sus alumnos intentan capturar la cabeza desprendida de una bruja, pues según la creencia, serán recompensados por esta si mantienen los hechos en secreto.]
Vilchico: el pacto diabolico (Héctor Oré Ruiz, 2010)

SHORT FILMS / CORTOMETRAJES:

LA AGONÍA DE RASU ÑITI
Director: Augusto Tamayo San Roman
Writers: Augusto Tamayo, Anina Sanchez, Alejandro Rossi
Cinematography: Cesar Perez
Editing: Manolo Cordero
1985. 32 minutes.
Setting: central highlands
Language: Spanish; songs in Quechua
Availability: Youtube
Based on the 1962 story by José María Arguedas. An aged danzak' (dancer) decides that the time has come for him to die. He hears the wamani (mountain spirit) calling him. He puts on the costume of the scissor dancer, summons his family, his musicians and his dancing pupil, and dances until he dies. Available on Youtube.

Sinopsis en español:
Relata las últimas horas de la vida del indio Pedro Huancayre (Rasu-Ñiti), un célebre danzante de tijeras o dansaq, quien utiliza sus pocas fuerzas que le quedan para danzar mientras agoniza, todo lo cual lo hace acompañado de dos músicos (un violinista y un arpista), desplegando un ceremonial espectacular, que presencian su mujer y sus hijas, y su joven discípulo Atuq Sayku. Rasu-Ñiti muere en trance y lega a su discípulo el Wamani o espíritu de la montaña que se manifiesta en forma de cóndor, una deidad andina que hizo de Rasu-Ñiti un eximio bailarín, de acuerdo a la visión andina.


KENTISHANI Y CHAAVAJA
Director/writer: Aldo Salvino
Cinematography: Juan Durán
1996. 29 minutes.
Setting: Ashaninka village in Amazon
Language: Ashaninka
Availability: VHS (subtitles in Spanish)
lousy ok good very good
Two Asháninka children, Kentishani (played by Fredie Iñapi) and Chaavaja (played by Yerme Aquituari) return from a visit to relatives and find their village destroyed and in flames. The only survivor they find is their grandfather, who tells them to run to Shima and warn their relatives of the coming danger. As the two children head toward Shima they encounter a wounded soldier who commands them to take him down river in their canoe. Although they don't speak each other's language, the children and the soldier eventually learn to respect each other. After a brief stay at the militar base, Kentishani and Chaavaja return home to rebuild their village.

Sinopsis en español:
Los hermanos Kentishani (7) y Chaavaja (9) de la etnia de los Asháninkas, viven en un caserío en la selva amazónica del Perú. Como sabemos, muchos de estos pequeños caseríos fueron destruidos durante el conflicto armado entre el ejército peruano y el grupo terrorista “Sendero Luminoso”. La historia se inicia con el regreso de Kentishani y Chaavaja de una visita a familiares en otro pueblo. Al llegar a su caserío lo encuentran destrozado y en llamas. Su abuelo que ha sobrevivido a la masacre les aconseja huir a Shima y avisar a sus tíos del peligro.


Chicle (Gum)
Director: Josh Hyde
2005. 14 min.
In English, Quechua and Spanish
Chicle addresses the innocence and incorruptibility of a young boy trying to survive and remain on the path to morality in Cusco, despite the depraved actions of those around him. Pablo, a gum seller, discovers a lost American girl and helps her find her mother. Meanwhile, his older brother robs an American tourist who happens to be lost girl's mother and gives the stolen money to his own mother. Pablo has to return to his family heartbroken and empty-handed. But his spirits are raised when his brother presents him with a stolen photo of the girl, and his mother gives him two American dollars to buy gum for the next day. This film was remade into the feature-length film Postales.


Chullachaqui
Director: Dorian Fernández
2007. 30 min.
Inspirado en la leyenda amazónica del chullachaqui. Siete estudiantes de biología se internan dentro de la selva amazónica para recolectar muestras y tomar apuntes para una asignación final. El lugar elegido es Supayacu (Cocha del diablo), donde se han reportado misteriosas desapariciones. En el trayecto, vivirán una serie de acciones que harán de un viaje de placer y con fin académico, una auténtica pesadilla, en la cual irán desapareciendo uno por uno, sin percatarse que quizás se han encontrado, sin desearlo en medio de la exuberante vegetación, con una criatura mitológica y fatídica de pies desiguales. Algunos de los rasgos más saltantes de esta criatura, según la mitología amazónica, son su capacidad de mimetización, adquiriendo la forma que desee. Además, una característica cojera, producto de la asimetría de sus pies. Dícese que en circunstancias muy especiales, sale al bosque a buscar incautos o personas en excursión, los cuales al ser hechizados, son conducidos hasta parajes desconocidos y nunca más se vuelve a saber de ellos.


Danzak
Director: Gabriela Yepes
2008. 19 min.
Nina is a 10-year-old girl whose life dramatically changes when her father, a Master Scissor Dancer, asks her to fulfill her last wish. This is based loosely on the José María Arguedas short story, "La agonia de Rasu Ñiti" (see above), adding another episode and telling the tale from the daughter's point of view. Released as a bonus feature on the DVD of the Colombian film Los viajes del viento (Wind Journeys).


Leyenda de las Islas de Pachacamac
Director: Álvaro Villarán
1985. 15 min.
Narra la historia de la Diosa Cavillaca, pretendida por otros dioses, que compiten por su amor. El bromista Cuniraya será finalmente quien la conquiste. Al seguir manteniendo oculta su identidad, en la forma de un mendigo, la orgullosa Cavillaca, avergonzada por lo que supone una afrenta a su belleza, huye con su hijo hacia el mar. La Diosa y su hijo se convierten en las islas que están frente a Pachacamac en las costas de Lurín, al sur de Lima. Actuación con máscaras del grupo teatral Yuyachkani.


Nakaj
Director: Daniel Aizenstat
1994. 20 min.
Dramatizes the Andean myth of a spirit who steals life from people wandering the mountains at night.


El sueño del pongo
Director: Santiago Álvarez
1970. 8 min. B&W.
Adaptation of the classic José María Arguedas story by a Cuban filmmaker. This is not exactly a movie but a collage of still photos shown while a narrator reads Arguedas' story. Available on Daily Motion:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4u5tv_el-sueno-del-pongo-arguedas_shortfilms

[Un hombrecito indio entra a trabajar de Pongo (sirviente) y su patrón es dueño de una inmensa casona en Perú. El pongo sueña el castigo que recibirá el patrón, por las maldades que ha cometido, después de que ambos hayan muerto.]


Una tragedia del alcohol
Director: Joseph Lora
2009. Quechua.
Silvestre Condori retorna hebrio a su casa luego de gastarse el dinero de la venta de los vellones que su esposa Antuca le habia encargado, Antuca y su hija Mañuca aguardan la llegada de Silvestre. Silvestre ya cerca a su casa encuentra a Miguelcha su hermano, invitándole a beber unos tragos más en la casa, luego de concluir una botella, éste entra a la cocina y le dice a Antuca que le preste el tupo de su manta para abrir una nueva, ella se opone; caldeando los ánimos del marido y este en un arranque de furia golpea con la botella en la cabeza de Antuca, desparramándose el trago por doquier y causando un incendio de descomunales proporciones y la muerte a su esposa y su pequeña hija.
josephlorautda.blogspot.com/2008/09/una-trajedia-del-alcohol-rodaje.html


Ukuku
Director: Gastón Vizcarra
2009. 20 min.
A more kindly version of the woman-bear offspring myth than the one found in Kukuli above. This Ukuku is not a menace but a misfit, a misunderstood creature looking for ice in a warming world.
http://vimeo.com/15212858

[El ukuku de la mitología andina es una criatura nacida de la unión de una mujer con un oso de anteojos, de los que hereda su sabiduría y fuerza, respectivamente. Su condición de semidios le confiere la potestad de salvaguardar la buena conducta de su poblado, sin embargo, su principal función es la de escalar a los más altos nevados de la cordillera para picar un pedazo de hielo que bajará para la ceremonia de purificación del pueblo y de sus primeras cosechas. En los tiempos que corren, es durante la fiesta del Señor de Qoylluriti, en Cusco, cuando los ukukus ascienden a los nevados en pos de las bendiciones. En El Ukuku de Gastón Vizcarra los tiempos han cambiado y la naturaleza sufre los efectos del calentamiento global y las incurias del hombre, ergo el ukuku--símbolo de la cosmovisión andina y la conservación del medio ambiente--está desfasado de su contexto y por eso desvaría en la costa. El corto pone en contraste la jocosa actitud del ukuku con la irritable conducta de los costeños como símbolo de dos mundos distantes.]

MAP OF INDIGENOUS GROUPS AND LANGUAGES IN PERU:


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