Paper short abstract:

This paper considers how Peruvian Indigenous video and Indigenous film festivals challenge, or not, existing imaginaries of indigeneity in Peru. Among other factors it examines how this category may disrupt the dominance of lo andino in the nation’s imaginary.

Paper long abstract:

The category of Indigenous film is widely contested, not least because it is often employed as a surrogate for a diverse array of formats and genres. Film festivals around the world utilise the term as a means to garner wider recognition for Native media, to assert difference in the face of processes of homogenisation, and to leverage funding to enable production. In Peru, this category poses particular challenges owing to the problematic usage of the signifier 'Indigenous'. As has been widely documented (cf. de la Cadena 2000), to speak of indigeneity in Peru is a complex and fraught process which differs markedly from the neighbouring contexts of Bolivia and Ecuador.

The distinctiveness of the Peruvian scenario is not arresting the desire for an Indigenous media movement, however, outwardly voiced in recent events such as the Premio Anaconda in Lima (2011), and the CLACPI International Indigenous Film and Video Festival in Colombia (2012). During these events mediamakers argue for the importance of self-determination through the image, with films such as Iskay yachay (Sacha Videastas, 2005), El perro del hortelano (2009) and La travesía del Chumpi (Fernando Valdivia, 2011) demonstrating a variety of thematics and aesthetic strategies. In the context of the recent international attention garnered by Claudia Llosa's films, this paper considers how Peruvian video productions that feature in Indigenous film festivals challenge, or not, existing imaginaries of indigeneity in Peru. How may this category reimagine the cultural landscape of Peru, disrupting the dominance of lo andino in the nation's imaginary?