Peruvian Romulo Sulca Ricra is developing road movie ‘Ayahuanco’

Waiting for the premiere of his first feature film “Once Upon a Time in the Andes”, which was presented at Sanfic Industria in Chile, Peruvian helmeted Romulo Sulca Recra is already working on the development of his next project. Under the title of the work “Ayahuanco”, it will focus on the man who, having lived in Europe, returned to Peru.

“He left due to the political situation in the country – his mother was forcibly sterilized as part of the birth control policy pursued by former President Alberto Fujimori in the 1990s. Now, she is dying of ovarian cancer,” says Solca Recra, describing his new endeavors as ‘ambitious’.

It’s going to be a road movie! It’s set in Lima, Ticlio, and we’ll start at the Pacific coast and move through the Peruvian Andes and the jungle. This character gets to know herself again on her return, learning about her roots and discovering new details about his parents. His father was part of [the communist guerrilla] A group called Shining Path, Sendero Luminoso.”

Before embarking on that adventure, Sulca Ricra will recall the world of Rabonas in Once Upon a Time in the Andes: The Women Who Adopted Their Husbands to Fight in 19^{The tenth} century, forced to fight if their husbands were unable to do so. But young shepherd Margarita chooses the other side when she rescues a wounded Chilean soldier. When he recovers, they fall in love with each other, but the local community imprisons the enemy.

“For me, Margarita represents my mother. She died when she was in her twenties, and she never learned to read or write,” said Solca Recra, who decided to work mostly with amateurs, with the exception of actor Juan Cano, who recently appeared in a Rotterdam address The Phantom Project.

“Before loyalty, there is love. Margarita tries to break the rules of her society. She does not care about them and does not care about war. She cares about her instincts. This is very expressive, because we Andeans still do not care about foreign wars. We are in our own world.”

Sulca Ricra wanted to use Quechua language in the film.

“In its pure form, although nowadays it tends to mix with Spanish, it is representative of the indigenous people of Peru.”

Despite his film’s title, echoing the works of Sergio Leone, he wasn’t trying to reference any famous Westerns, he says. At least not on purpose.

“I think I ended up staying close to the Western genre, but I didn’t plan to do that. It was more subconscious. People in Peru, in South or Latin America, consume a lot of these films, including Leon’s.”

His current focus is on telling his own stories, making films about where he belongs, and filming them in Quechua, he says, as well as commenting on the Academy’s latest apology to Sachin Little Feather, who took the stage in 1973 at the behest of Marlon Brando refusing to accept his award for a film “The Godfather”.

Little Feather has spoken out about Native American stereotypes in the entertainment industry and the Wounded Knee protest in South Dakota. In June, former Academy President David Rubin admitted the “abuse” she suffered after her speech, calling it “unjustified and unjustified”.

“It’s never too late to apologize, although it’s hard to say how sincere it is and how much it has to do with someone trying to improve their appearance. And to show that the Oscars, which has seen racist incidents in the past, is now trying to do a better job,” he says.

“I liked that woman, because she didn’t care what people thought. She was talking about who she really was. We the aborigines are the original owners of these lands, but the cinema portrayed us as violent and attacking thieves and unworthy of love. It’s important that you don’t alienate us anymore. We are not some pieces. artistic to look at or display in your home.”

“It is difficult for people from South America or Peru to get the help we need to make films. But there are many languages ​​and cultures in this country and they deserve to be shown to the world.”

“Finally we have the strength to show who we really are. I would definitely like to do that.”