Bruna is 15 years old and on her vacations she accesses an internet dating page. She connects from a middle-class residence, where she lives with her mother, Irene, a psychologist. Autoerotic is the debut feature by Andrea Hoyos, who with a sensitive script, which does not fall into stereotypes or value judgments, addresses the freedom to choose and sorority. “It’s a way of saying that this may be happening behind your back, because if someone wants to do it, they’re going to do it and it can be very risky. The number of women who abort in this country each year is massive. That we don’t want to talk about it is covering our eyes”, she tells us.
It takes us back to adolescence and to the family. How was the film born?
It was a bit motivated by my circle of friends. In some way it was a debt I had with them and a form of gratitude also for having taught me so much during my adolescence.
Your cinema has a feminist look. Do you think there are advances in Peruvian cinema these years?
Yes, but there is no public film school. It would be very important to be able to consider this type of progress and have a diversity of perspectives. Here, access to the cinema is very privileged. So, I do believe that there is progress with the state awards, but at the same time it is complex when, for example, the professors remain the same, there are no women, there are very few in the film areas.
Actresses said that harassment was truncating careers in Peruvian cinema. Do you agree?
Totally and it also happens in the technical area. In order to make a space for yourself in the world of cinema, many times you will have to go through harassment, perhaps from your teachers and your own bosses. They enter into a kind of blackmail in order to get a space. Many times the degrees finish while you are studying. Harassment in Peruvian cinema is a real issue. I have suffered a lot of harassment and I don’t think it is something that is going to stop. I see it all the time.
You don’t mention the word ‘abuse’ in the movie. However, there is an adult who abuses a minor. Did you also want to address why it is not reported?
Yes, of course, I think the problem here is that you are not believed or you are re-victimized. For this reason, several people do not want to report because it is as if they were going through another case of abuse, only at the expense of the State. And, somehow, those things are going to continue to happen in Bruna’s universe. Not that after that one is saved.
Conservative groups do not like these productions. What feedback did you get?
I get quite a few on the Instagram of the movie complaining about why these types of movies are being generated. I actually try to ignore them because I think they haven’t seen the movie. I think that when you see her, in the end you are a companion of what Bruna lives. It’s kind of hard to leave her after this. I don’t know how people are going to respond, but in any case I’m looking for the film to empathize with the character beyond what happens to him.❖