Interview by Sandro Mairata | She is the mother of Sistu, the child protagonist of “Willaq Pirqa”, for many the best Peruvian film of 2022. Soon we will see her in “La reina del sur” and “Transformers: awakening of the beasts”; Meanwhile, Álvarez tells us why we haven’t seen her much in the media these days.
Melissa Alvarez is another of the revelations of that phenomenon called “Willaq Pirqa: the cinema of my people”the film directed by Cease Galindo which by chance of fate premiered one day after the coup d’état by Pedro Castillo, an unfortunate coincidence that almost hurt this death film in movie theaters. But word of mouth did its job and “Willaq Pirqa” managed the impossible to win more and more theaters in the midst of the start of the current violence and is heading towards 70,000 viewers and two months on screens; Enthusiastic testimonials on social networks certify that at the end of each performance there is applause. It is, for many in the national critics, the best Peruvian film of 2022. It is also the most watched Quechua film in our history, a language of which Álvarez is a native speaker.
Despite playing one of the most important characters in the film —Sistu’s (Víctor Acurio) mother—, Álvarez, stays away from the commotion, although the experience opened the doors to other roles in “La reina del sur” and “Transformers : the awakening of the beasts”, which will be released in 2023. We talked with her on the phone while listening to how heavy rain fell in Cusco.
- Why are you not participating much in the promotion of the film? How are you spending these days, what do you do?
- Well, I live in Maras (Cusco). I am a housewife so far, I have two little ones. And there is also the work of the farm. So, there isn’t much time to pay attention to those things.
- Yes, but news has reached you about what is happening with “Willaq Pirqa”, which has become a very successful film.
- Yes, that’s the way it is too, well, I have that space in the evenings to check the social networks. And yes, yes, I did know.
- how does it make you feel?
- For me, well, it’s nice news, I’m very happy, it excites me a lot. And that’s it, isn’t it? Rather, perhaps those spaces are missing to be able to share with the public, but hey, you can’t because I’m here in Maras, with my occupations.
- How did you come to “Willaq Pirqa”?
- We had contact with the gentlemen of Yuyachkani, they were the ones who told us that there was this opportunity. (The production) had contacted them, and (the Yuyachkani) had told them that in Maras there is a theater group that does theater in Quechua and speaks Quechua; So they called me to do a casting in Cusco.
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Álvarez is from Maras, Cusco, the same as Víctor Acurio, who plays Sistu. Photo: Courtesy
Before, we formed another theater group here in Maras and we did theater for tourists. I tell stories in Quechua for tourists. I always wanted to make movies, because making theater and making movies is not the same. They are very different and I really did it with full dedication, with all my heart and I felt very happy.
- What memories do you have of the recording, some anecdote, some difficult scene to carry out?
- I don’t think so, no difficult part, rather it was very easy because since it was in Quecho, well, I speak Quechua. Rather, one thing that I always remember is that, as I mentioned, theater is not the same as making movies. So, for example, in the mornings we used the whole morning to do all the scenes that we played in the morning. That’s something different for me. In the theater everything is correlative, but for the cinema it was not like that.
- You are an elementary school teacher and, in the eyes of others, one of the most commented aspects of the film is seeing the school without windows, with a dirt floor, without learning implements. Is it like that now? What can you comment on it?
- Well, the film was more or less set in the 80s. But now, in some other way, with the support of municipalities and NGOs, some things have already been implemented; In recent years, for example, some institutions are implementing what is the Internet, computers. It will not be all fancy, but little by little. There is still precariousness in the institutions.
- “Willaq Pirqa” is becoming historic, it is being seen massively in Lima, even though it is a film spoken in Quechua. And it just opens at a difficult historical moment for Peru because Castillo immediately strikes and the whole situation in which we find ourselves begins. I wanted to propose a reflection. What role do you think “Willaq Pirqa” is playing, what would be the film’s contribution to Peruvian society?
- Eh, how beautiful is that question. I think that film has a purpose, for me. Precisely at this very sad juncture that Peru is going through, it is precisely a film spoken in Quechua that is lasting a long time on the billboard and has a very clear message. For example, it hurts me a lot —this is a very personal comment— it hurts me a lot and you will excuse me if I shed a few tears, it hurts me a lot that in our Peru there is so much difference (his voice breaks) There is so much discrimination. It seriously hurts. When I saw on social networks when they insult us mountain people or Amazonians, Indians, cholos, and on top of that they terruque us… How horrible, right? It is awful.
But when they come… now Dina (Boluarte) said “Puno is not Peru”. But when they go to Lake Titicaca, their photos are taken, they come to Machu Picchu, they take photos with people in their (typical) costume, with the peasants… In other words, at that moment we are a millennial culture. But in this situation that Peru is going through, we are “terrorists”, we are “Indians”. And it hurts me, it seriously hurts my soul that there is so much difference in Peru, because I think that all these economic powers, all this political power, for so many years continue to govern us in the worst way, in such a way vile. And it’s not fair. It seems to me that this film, just at this moment, has come out and it puts me in a situation… On the one hand, they tell us “what a beautiful film”, and despite everything it is lasting (in theaters). And I hope that all those people who have seen the film do not see us as a painting, just to say “what a beautiful culture”, but that they really accept us, that we are part of Peru, that we are all worth the same. Nothing more.
“Willaq Pirqa” is one of the most important Peruvian films of recent years. Photo: Courtesy
- Have you seen Víctor (Acurio) again?
- Yes, yesterday we met in Cusco because, since yesterday, we have organized the protest in solidarity with our brothers who are there in Lima. So yes, we keep seeing each other because we are from the same place and we have the same ideas, with the same things.
- Have they appeared at the end of the performances as they were doing in Lima?
Yes. - How was the response of the people?
- Well, it’s all all exciting at that point. Everyone applauds at the end of the movie.
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