Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many festivals around the world have been affected including Peruvian film festivals. Some of them have decided to switch to virtual platforms, so here we present you with a list of current film festivals from Peru available online.
MUTA – IV International Festival of Audiovisual Appropriation
Dates: July 18 – 26
Call for entries: closed
This festival created in 2017 has the singularity that the participants must combine the use of audiovisual files and appropriated material of any type and origin as the main resource of their audiovisual projects. Over the years they have been attracting more participants due to their workshops, exhibitions, talks, and film screenings.
Applications were received from April to June and this year’s special emphasis was given to works that were made with material taken exclusively from the internet.
This edition, the 8 selected come from Peru, as well as Bolivia, Switzerland, Argentina, Ecuador, and Mexico.
The festival begins this Saturday with the inaugural film «Judy vs. Capitalism”, created by Mike Hoolboom, Canadian experimental and independent filmmaker. The film has already been an official selection in the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival.
Filmed in super 8, the film tells the story of Judy Rebick, a feminist activist who gained prominence for being the voice of the Ontario Abortion Clinics Coalition, a group that championed women’s rights to their bodies in the 1980s. In the film, Judy exposes the key principles of the Second Feminist Wave feminism, as well as personal moments from her life.
24th Lima Film Festival PUCP
Dates: August 21 – 30
Call for entries: closed
The festival that through its years has had winners such as Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, City of God, and Embrace of the Serpent, presents this year its 24th edition in a virtual format.
The artistic director Josué Méndez stated that the festival will have a personalized digital platform where the films will be able to be seen, while the conversations and forums about screenings will be held virtually as well, thus marking a difference from common streaming. This format will also allow the festival to be accessed by more people, and thus cover various regions of Peru.
Although «it will be a small edition in terms of quantity, as always [it will be] very thorough in terms of quality,» said Mag. Marco Mühletaler, director of the festival and the CCPUCP.
Alternate Lima – 1st International Film Festival
Dates: September 18 – 27
Call for entries: partially open
Currently only accepting applications for Peruvian filmmakers, Lima Alterna focuses more on independent cinema, committed to innovative and alternative proposals, promoting narratives that are dissimilar from classic scriptwriting formulas.
In this way, this festival arises from the need to promote and spread contemporary cinema from all parts of the world to Peru. It will also have international guests, talks, and training workshops.
The call for entries for the Films in Construction laboratory, part of the festival, is now open for registration. This laboratory is aimed at filmmakers with low and medium budget films of 50 minutes of average duration. The deadline is August 30th.
Its first edition will be held virtually thanks to the alliance formed with CINEAPARTE, a Peruvian streaming platform.
For more information on how to participate: www.limaalternafilmfestival.com
AL ESTE – 11th Central and Eastern European Film Festival
Dates: October 1 – 11
Call for entries: closed
Initially announced for June, the XI edition of the Central and Eastern Eastern European Film Festival will be presented digitally in October 2020.
The call for participants took place between January and May of this year and has among its categories feature films and fiction and experimental short films.
Originally known separately as AI del Plata, A l’Est du Nouveau, and Al Este de Lima, the organizers eventually joined together to be formed as a single project that now presents its eleventh edition.
Last year’s winner for best documentary was Igor Zupe with “Music is the Art of Time 3: LP Film”, a documentary that recounts the making of the first album by the band Laibach released in Yugoslavia, despite the ban on the word “Laibach» in the country in 1985. The word is the historical name given by Germany to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana; it is a crooked reference to the Nazi occupation of Slovenia during World War II. During the ceremony in 2019, the new video of the band “So Long, Farewell”, also directed by Igor Zupe was premiered.
Cortos de Vista – 13th University Short Film Festival
Dates: October 8 – 10
Call for entries: open
The city of Chiclayo returns this year with a new edition of the festival that celebrates short films made by university students. Cortos de Vista, Spanish for shortsighted, will be held in October and entries are currently open until August 20th.
The festival allows student directors to participate with more than one short film. The conditions are that the producer or director have a university card or the registration form that supports that they are currently university students.
The maximum length of the short film allowed is 20 minutes and must be subtitled if it is not in Spanish.
For more information on how to participate: www.cortosdevista.pe/convocatoria
Vi Viendo Cinema – 4th Socio-Environmental Film Festival
Dates: October 26 – 31
Calls for entries: open
Originally from Huancayo, an Andean city in Peru, this festival seeks to use the audiovisual medium as a resource to raise awareness about the environmental and social rights of indigenous communities and peoples, as well as to create an audiovisual dialogue respecting natural diversity.
The theme of the filmmakers wanting to participate must relate to environmental and/or social issues.
Directors or filmmakers who want to participate have until July 20th to present their projects. The festival allows filmmakers to participate with more than one short film.
For more information and contest rules visit their website.
2nd Peruvian Film Festival in Native Languages
Dates: December 3 – 6
Calls for entries: registrations open since August
After a successful first edition, the Peruvian Film Festival in Original Languages will take place in a virtual format in Trujillo.
The festival was created to establish a space to raise awareness of Peruvian native languages through cinema. Along with other festivals in Peru, it also seeks to promote the decentralization of the film industry in the country.
In its first edition, Wiñaypacha, Los Ojos del Camino, and Las Hijas del Nantu were among the films that competed for the Muchik award for Peruvian cinema.
As a reference on the contest rules, the festival temporarily provides the public with this link.
Transcinema – 8th International Film Festival
Dates: December 4 – 12
Call for entries: open
With the recognizable logo of the Peruvian hairless dog, Transcinema festival has become one of the most important platforms for the exhibition of independent films in Peru.
Filmmakers can participate with short films, medium-length films, feature films that have been made no earlier than 2019 and that have yet to be premiered in Peru.
This year, the festival has formed a strategic alliance with Retina Latina to be able to launch this edition virtually, which also means that those selected will be presented to its audiences in Peru, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
For project entries, you can follow this link.