'Retablo', best film at the Havana Film Festival

Our film industry went crazy. Peruvian director Álvaro Delgado Aparicio’s debut film, 'Retablo', won the Havana Star Prize at the 20th Havana Film Festival in New York in April.

"We're really thrilled that our film continues to touch people's hearts all over the world. Congratulations to our amazing team! Through 'Retablo' we believe in love, diversity, and tolerance. We dedicate this award to our Peru," says the film's Facebook page.

According to the festival jury, the story is a moving portrait of the intransigence and violent condemnation of transgressive behavior among members of the Quechua community.

This award is added to the 24 that the film has won since its premiere at Berlinale, where it won the award for Best Debut Feature at the Teddy Awards, a prize awarded by an independent jury to feature films that develop LGTB themes. The film has also triumphed at film festivals in Toronto, New York, Bilbao, Madrid, Sydney, Switzerland, Sweden, Vancouver, Chicago, Ukraine and Houston, among others.

A Call for Tolerance

'Retablo' tells the story of Segundo Paúcar, a teenager from Ayacucho who is being trained by his father to become an Ayacucho retablo maker and thus continue the family legacy. As he heads to a local saint's festival, he sees his father in an act that will make his world fall apart.

The film, co-produced by Peru, Germany and Norway, was filmed entirely in Quechua and then translated into Spanish. It stars Junior Bejar, Amiel Cayo and Magaly Solier. Solier plays Anatoli, Segundo's mother and, for her, this film is a call for tolerance.

"Together with the director we turned her (Anatoli) into an imperfect woman. She's very clever. She raises her son with a lot of love, she loves her husband. But she's also a woman who's at home, and she doesn't realize what's going on. Until she does realize and has to start making decisions. I fell in love with this film because it calls for us to be tolerant and reflect. It will open viewers’ minds because they will realize that we all have our own retablo," said the actress from Ayacucho.

This opinion is shared by Álvaro Delgado, who said that this production tells an intimate and moving story that deals with life, art and cultural heritage in Andean communities; the love and also the violence that generates intolerance.

"It is a very human film about love, tolerance and diversity, which has touched the hearts of many people in every corner of the world. Hopefully, through the film, we can contribute to this process of reflection, generating inclusion and empathy so that we become more and more tolerant," said Delgado, who is also the film's screenwriter.

Details

• The film premiered in Peruvian movie theaters on May 16.
• The sound editing took place at Skywalker Sound Studios, on the ranch of George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars saga.
• In 2017, 'Retablo' was recognized as the best Peruvian film at the Lima Film Festival.

Sources: El Comercio/ Perú 21/ La República/ RPP