Last Thursday, January 6, the Peruvian film A Singular Romance, directed by Wesley Verastegui and starring the actors Javiera Arnillas Y Santiago Caceres. The winning film of one of the financings of the Ministry of Culture was criticized by the congresswoman of Popular Renovation Miracles Jauregui de Aguayo, who alleged that “religious culture” was being “discriminated against” with its reproduction in theaters.
What is A Singular Romance about?
It’s the story of kimberly, a trans woman, who met Antonio, a young conservative, while he was asking for help after he was attacked by criminals. For reasons of life, both fall in love that same day and start a romance ignoring the past and the secrets that each one keeps.
The plot unfolds in the midst of a love affair in a battle of fear and revelations, where Antonio’s ex-girlfriend seeks to attack Kimberly for starting an affair with him. Because of this, the protagonist sees her love in danger. However, she is helped by her best friend, also a trans woman, who encourages her not to be afraid because people have never had an easy time of discrimination.
The film seeks to offer the public a vision of the cruel reality that the trans community must face in a society that is used to isolating and attacking the LGTBIQ+ community; Likewise, it proposes to demonstrate that we are all equal and have the same right to love whoever we want.
What has been the controversy of the film?
Through his Twitter account, The parliamentarian announced that she sent a letter to the Minister of Culture, Gisela Ortiz, in which she alleges a “citizen discomfort” in relation to the launch of A singular romance.
“In the development of said film, evangelical believers are mentioned in a derogatory and negative way, which notoriously promotes religious discrimination. We have requested information on the cultural contribution of the film in question, details of the public budget allocated for its production and dissemination,” he shared.
What did the director reply?
Through their social networks, Wesley Verástegui, director of A singular romance, responded to the congresswoman about the film she directed.
“I had previously given an opinion on the position of this woman who, unfortunately, is a congressman. According to her, my film incites hatred towards a particular religion, when it is precisely the members of that religion who incite hatred from wherever they are (church, bus, street, hospital, school, etc)”, Verastegui wrote.
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