Manuel Pérez

What are your first impressions of Lima? Lima is a known city for me. I came for the first time in 1974. I forget how many times I’ve been to this city, whether en route somewhere else or for activities related to the Havana Film Festival. The last time was in 2006 during the Lima Film Festival where I brought Páginas del Diario de Mauricio to compete. It was the first time I participated.

What does the Lima festival mean to you? I’ve gotten to know the Lima festival bit by bit. I knew it existed, but its importance has been a progressive process. The festival started out discreet, against festivals that were already entrenched in this continent, whether it was Cartagena in Colombia or Havana thirty years ago. It’s a relatively young event. During the fourth edition I started learning about the movies in competition, which were of a good level. Today, after more than a decade, it’s another gathering that has taken a continental vision of Latin American film, which I think is very important.

Is the distribution of movies in Latin America still a problem? I am 70 years old and I have over 50 years experience in the movie industry. Distribution has always been an extremely complicated problem. Now it’s become more complex, because compared to the time in which I started forging myself as a filmmaker, today the situation is different.

Many changes have been characterized by technology. New technology has changed the way films are made, so the struggle to find distribution channels has gotten even more mixed up. Today there are many different ways of distributing in the world. One question is how to introduce our movies in other markets, but the most dramatic thing is, how do you get Peruvian films to be seen in Chile or in Ecuador. It’s a permanent struggle, because it’s not enough to be able to produce the movies. If there are no exhibition ends our job is limited. Anyway, I trust that new technology is going to open up distribution and screening channels.

Today you occupy a special place in the 13th Lima Festival, you are part of the jury. What is the challenge in this position? I have to see twenty films, it’s an opportunity that disciplines me to see regular films, successful films, or failed films. As a filmmaker, seeing what Latin America produces is always an experience I’m grateful of having. Even in those films that I like nothing, I can come into contact with the life of the continent through what the filmmakers express. Another challenge is forming an opinion about them. I always have the advantage that I am one out of five, meaning it is not up to me to decide who will win the award. I am going to vote for one of the movies and if three think as I do, we win by majority and if only I think that way, then I lose.

Claudio Sánchez