Since 2018, with the premiere of the comedy Do not tell me a spinster, Ani Alva has been the highest-grossing Peruvian filmmaker and at the same time directed a commercial film that was approved by critics. With the closure of theaters due to the pandemic, the premiere of the sequel was postponed and will now enter theaters on April 14. “Now I am in the same brawl. My God, the country! ”, She tells us, remembering the resignation of Peter Paul Kuczynski. “I have worked a lot in these two years, thank God. Although the pandemic paralyzes you, at the same time it mobilized us to think about changes”, says about his work on television and in different film production companies. Among his three pending shoots is the film about Everardo Zapata Santillana. “In December we started Coquito.”
When you presented Don’t tell me spinster, you said that they didn’t ‘bet’ so much because it wasn’t a common theme in Peru. It was finally a box office hit.
I always bet on what motivates me. I’m a single woman, in fact I’ve been single since that interview (laughs), so I wondered why marriage is so important to other women.
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What conclusion did you come to?
What is the society that forges that way of thinking. But I feel that I have come to this world to fulfill dreams and to work, that is what really fulfills me. We have to deconstruct several things that have been put to us and Don’t tell me spinster 2 talks about an existential crisis, if you are what you dreamed of being when you were a child. Apparently, if you don’t comply with having a career, a marriage, children, for society you are nobody. You have to tear that down.
Do you think it is important that the so-called commercial cinema can include these issues in its content?
Sure, for me every film should be a projection of society. The cinema can function as a political weapon and with a message to give. It can be a projection of what we want. So, let’s stop putting ourselves in second place, I don’t know, in audiovisual stories. For a long time they writers and the stories were more on the other hand, they saw us more as the friend ‘of’ or the woman to rescue.
Till We Meet Again, or another tape, may or may not be welcome. Do you see film criticism as necessary?
Criticism is a job and I respect it. Later I will validate if I agree or disagree, but it is something alien to me and everyone is free to express their opinion. Finally, one does a public job, right? From this film, it is important to mention that, unlike other South American countries, Peru does not have a tax plan for large companies such as Amazon or HBO to come and invest. The bottom line is that it’s not that attractive to outsiders.
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That is, not everyone has the same opportunities and the screen fee is also pending.
Exactly. We don’t have what other countries have. The screen quota exists in Argentina since the year of the ñangué.
The cinema continues to be a hostile sector for many women in Peru. Do you think there were changes?
More and more women are joining the shoots, but the percentage remains the same, there are always more men than women. It is a question of equality and we are still in the fight so that the hierarchical positions also vary. I like working with women because we share the same discourse, because I feel comfortable, and it is important to give us those ties. In this film, I demanded from the production team that there be more women. If we are in a hierarchical position, let us help more professionals enter and gradually become more equitable.
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