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08/08/2023

Interview with Marco Mühletaler and Josué Méndez: Peruvian and Latin American Cinema at the Heart of the Lima Film Festival


By Daniel Ruiz (Twitter: @tatoruiz), accredited by CineVista for the event.

On August 10th, one of the most important cinematic events in Peru begins, the Lima Film Festival. We spoke with its general director, Marco Mühletaler, and Josué Méndez, its artistic director. Both are extremely excited about this new edition, which marks the in-person reunion - without any restrictions - of the audience with films and their creators.

In 2021, the festival was entirely virtual, while last year there was a hybrid version with limitations on in-person attendance. This year, virtual spaces are exclusively reserved for the selection of Peruvian films, allowing them to be viewed throughout the entire country. Several meetings and talks with guests will also be virtual, as they will be available via streaming.

The festival, which serves as a sort of home and refuge to experience the latest in Peruvian and Latin American cinema, is approaching its 30th year. This year, the 27th edition will feature a program of over 85 works, including feature films and short films.

Throughout these 27 editions, the Lima Film Festival (see program) has showcased important films such as "Martin (Hache)" by Adolfo Aristarain, "La ciénaga" by Lucrecia Martel, "Machuca" by Andrés Wood, "City of God" by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, or "Amores perros" by Alejandro González Iñárritu, just to name a few unforgettable titles from the region.

Josué: Well, the festival draws from a demand that has always existed and has been key. The reason it has been successful from day one is that Latin American cinema doesn't even reach the platforms. This type of Latin American cinema doesn't make it to theaters, and now it doesn't reach platforms either. So, as long as that demand exists, the festival will have an audience, which I don't think is entirely good news. It shouldn't be this way. From the first edition, it was very clear that the festival met this expectation, this demand. There's always a lot of anticipation from the audience for the films they are going to watch. Films start selling out during pre-sale. That indicates that we offer content that is not available elsewhere. It's unique content.

Marco: I'm one of those who believes there's an audience for everything. Television didn't kill radio, right? And in turn, radio didn't kill books. The internet also didn't kill television, radio, or books. I think there's room for all experiences. Now, having said that, I do think that a conscious effort is needed to provide the audience with a different experience than what they might have at home watching a movie on a virtual platform. I believe cinema has a unique magic, which is being in a closed, dark space, sharing with people, on a big screen, with immersive sound. There's an unparalleled experience, unless you have a home theater with all the technical conditions. It's not just about watching the film, the content of the film. It's about feeling the film, feeling the audience.

This festival, over its 27 years, has put Latin American cinema at the forefront. We try to showcase film industries from traditionally unrecognized countries as major producers. I'm thinking from Haiti to Paraguay and Nicaragua, just to name a few. These are countries with a film industry, with movies, and suddenly, boom, very interesting things emerge. This festival also offers the audience the opportunity to engage with these cinemas, in the deepest sense of the word. It means listening to different ways of speaking, different ways of living life reflected in those films, and it's something the audience appreciates a lot. This Latin American DNA is something we won't lose. This festival was born this way, and I hope it can continue to live this way throughout its existence, because that's what has made them different in the region, different in the world. There are very few festivals that focus so strongly on Latin America.

Josué: The type of Latin American cinema I grew up with was often very politicized, with an urgency to convey social issues. But then, when a new generation emerges, the ways of making films change, the ways of telling stories change, and the choice of which stories to tell changes. More intimate, personal films started to appear, not necessarily political or ideological, but rather more intimate themes. Filmmakers like Lucrecia Martel, Caetano, Trapero, Reygadas introduced this new way of filmmaking, and now a new shift seems to be happening.

Directors like Amat Escalante and Tatiana Huezo, influenced by Trapero and Reygadas, are making a different kind of cinema, perhaps more accessible in how they tell stories, with different ambitions. So, I think we can see changes in the way films are made and the themes they touch upon. For instance, there's Lisandro Alonso, who started with the Trapero generation, but he's now making a different kind of film, a change in his filmmaking approach. Latin American cinema, more than other cinemas, is marked by emerging figures. Given how challenging this profession is in Latin America, often these directors don't continue their work. You have first or second films that grab a lot of attention, and then their careers may fade. I think there's a lot of that in Latin America, a phenomenon of notable first and second films, not necessarily long careers.

Marco: About six or seven years ago, the order of popularity for films during the festival was: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and then others. Peru was further down the list. Nowadays, it's the opposite. The films that are selling out during the festival are Peruvian films, indicating that Peruvian cinema has become very important to the audience during the festival.

Josué: Peruvian cinema has also changed a lot. A priority of the festival is to promote and present this cinema. The quantity of Peruvian films has increased significantly. Going back to when I started on the Selection Committee about 15 years ago, there were only three, four, or five Peruvian films being made each year. No more than that. This year, we received 31 films for consideration. That's an unprecedented number. For the Work in Progress (WIP) section, which focuses on films in post-production, there were 25 submissions. Looking ahead to next year, we can anticipate a large number of completed films.

This year, for example, we have the largest number of Peruvian films in the history of the festival. We have four fiction films in competition, seven in the "Made in Peru" section, and over 40 restored Peruvian films, a significant quantity. Year after year, we have to take action because we feel that the opportunities are so limited that many of these films won't be seen unless they're showcased here. It's also important to note that, despite having 31 submitted films this year, only three were directed by women. This is a decrease compared to previous years. So, there must be factors contributing to this gender disparity in completed films. The pandemic probably played a significant role in how it enforced a division of labor between men and women. It's a topic that we'll discuss at the festival's talks because understanding the factors leading to this and how it can be improved is important.

Marco: I think building audiences takes time, it's not something that happens overnight, and festivals necessarily have a mandate to cultivate audiences. We're seeing this now and year after year, there's an audience interested in seeking diverse content, eagerly anticipating those nine days in August. There's a significant aspect that isn't just about increased production, though that is important. It's also about greater diversity in production. Perhaps for a prolonged period, there was a perception that Peruvian cinema only revolved around one theme, the country's political violence. Of course, this is a wound that needs to be healed by examining it from different perspectives. However, we've also seen a lot more variety recently, which is great because it engages audiences and dispels the myth that Peruvian cinema is only one story.

In addition to the fiction, documentary, and national cinema competitions, as well as sections like "Acclaimed" or "Gems," which predominantly feature films from other regions and languages besides Spanish, there's also an important - and very urgent - space to showcase world and especially Peruvian classic cinema. This is the second year in which the festival attempts, in some way (from a private sphere), to address the country's debt concerning its cinematic memory and the restoration of titles. Currently, there's a collective named "For the National Cinematheque of Peru," which has crafted a bill advocating for the establishment of this institution. The anticipation is palpable and very present.

Josué: We've screened films that were censored in their time. Some were never even released. They were shown once in commercial theaters and never again. It's important to note that all of this started because the Ministry of Culture established a fund for restoration. As films started receiving support from this fund and restoration efforts began, the idea emerged. Last year, we realized there were around 15 films in one section, and when we screened them, we were amazed by the reception. The restored films attracted full theaters. So, this year, we're repeating this with 12 sessions of restored Peruvian cinema. It's very heartening because many of the people involved in these films are still with us. They come to present the films, the teams that worked on these films get emotional, and we can see how they've been restored.

Marco: This festival has always had a section dedicated to restored classic cinema. The difference is that we now have more restored Peruvian films available than before. We started this last year with a section as substantial as this one. There wasn't a particular focus like the one on Armando Robles Godoy this year, but the centenary of his birth offered us the opportunity to take a fresh look at Robles Godoy's work. However, it's something this festival has always aimed to value: our cinema, not only contemporary but also the cinema that preceded it. There's a global trend of reevaluating classic cinema, and there are significant efforts from states, individuals, and institutions supporting the restoration of classic films. The pandemic years also provided time to rethink and review some works. Public funds, both from Peru and other places, have helped with this.

Armando Robles Godoy is a special case this year. He was also the first honoree of this festival, while he was alive (he passed away on August 10, 2010). It's very touching. I was rereading some of his words exactly 27 years ago, and it's wonderful to see how he looked toward the future of this festival, which is happening now. Some of his films had already been restored. "La Muralla Verde," one of his iconic films, was something that my generation watched on VHS or on YouTube. There's a link on YouTube, but the quality is quite poor, a true capture from that VHS. So, the restoration of "La Muralla Verde" was still pending, and we hadn't found a copy that was in minimally acceptable condition for the digitalization process. Then we found a copy at the Filmoteca, a 16mm copy, which had been a print for exhibition. It was somewhat worn, but it had endured time better. The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), through this festival and with support from the Vice-Rector of Research and the University's Filmoteca, decided to join efforts and initiate the first restoration of the film. Thorough cleaning was done, and then it was sent to Bolívar Films laboratories in Venezuela, where it was digitally restored. This version will open the festival. So, there's also a commitment from this festival to preserve cultural and audiovisual heritage and to give back to the community with this restored version as a gift this year.

Image credit: Festival Press.



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