By Fernanda Cueto Echeandía
María Barea with Graciela Huaywa. Credit https://centrocultural.pucp.edu.pe/galeriavirtual/maria-barea/.
Peruvian filmmaker María Barea arrived in Madrid on June 14 to present her film Antuca at the inauguration of the Peruvian Film Festival in Madrid. Before coming to Madrid, she visited London — where they screened Antuca and Porque quería estudiar at the Barbican, and Miss Universo en el Perú at King’s College London, in an event organised by the Anti-Colonial Film Club thanks to a grant from the Film Studies department — Lisbon, and Catalonia, where she also presented her work and participated in discussions.
The Doré Cinema, home of the Spanish Film Library, was filled for the screening of Antuca, the feature film Barea made in 1992 with the group Warmi, Colectivo Cine y Video. The movie tells the story of a young Peruvian woman who is forced to migrate from the highlands to Lima to work as a domestic worker in search of "better opportunities." However, when she arrives in the city, she faces a reality far from those promises. In the homes where she works, she is constantly rendered invisible and treated as a servant who exists solely to please her employers. The violence she suffers is not only psychological but also physical. Faced with mistreatment, Antuca decides to return to the community where she grew up, nostalgic for the life that was taken from her and hopeful of reuniting with an old love. However, she realizes that resuming that life is not so simple: “My fellow villagers now call me señorita”, she admits sadly. Caught between these two worlds, Antuca must struggle to find her place.
The character of Antuca —Barea told me— is fictional, but it was built on stories she collected from domestic workers in Lima, who later acted in the film.
Barea and I met at the Doré Cinema to discuss her career as a filmmaker, the story behind Antuca, and the renewed interest in the film. The movie was screened at the Lima Film Festival, which took place from August 8 to 17.
At the screening of Miss Universe en el Perú at King’s College London.
Fernanda: First of all, congratulations on inaugurating the Peruvian Film Festival in Madrid. You were telling me that you've been in various cities in Europe to present your work.
Yes, this came about from the interest of Isabel Seguí, a film historian who has done a thesis on women in Andean cinema. She learned about the things I had done and asked me where my films were, but no one knew where those materials ended up. I only had a copy that was made to expand, but obviously, it was in very bad condition. Restoration work had to be done to rescue whatever was possible. Then, thanks to Isabel Seguí's efforts, the Elías Querejeta University became interested, where there were Peruvian, Mexican, and other international students who wanted to work on the restoration. And that was very encouraging. Suddenly, a number of festivals became interested.
Honestly, I had been disconnected for many years because the experience with Antuca was somewhat frustrating. I made the film with the hope of showing it at a time when there was still a massive influx of people going to cinemas. In Peru, we had the Cinematic Promotion Law, which somewhat guaranteed us screen space. Films classified as being of social or cultural interest had the right to be programmed in a cinema circuit for at least one week. And then, depending on the audience turnout, they could remain in theaters longer. There was a real possibility of traveling around Peru and showing the films in good cinemas. That was the only support we received from the State. But just when the film had been classified for mandatory distribution and exhibition under Law 19327, Fujimori repealed the cinema law. So, a film like this, which didn’t adhere to the commercial patterns of cinema, had no way of making it into the market. That frustrated me. We managed to show the film in some European countries, but only in alternative circuits, and also in Peru. We showed it on video, but with many limitations.
F.: Why were you interested in addressing the topic of women working in domestic labor?
In 1981, I had the opportunity to participate in a series of films made by women called As Women See It, and I chose to work on that topic. I had other options, but I was struck by how women in such critical situations in the neighborhoods organized themselves to face survival problems.
I met Rosa Dueña, who was the leader of the mother’s club committee in the El Planeta informal settlement. To do the project, I gathered testimonies from several women who were organized in that mother’s club. Most of them were illiterate. The majority were single mothers, abandoned. Very few had a stable family situation. Most of them had come as young girls to do domestic work, almost all with the illusion that they would attend school, that they would learn to read and write. That impressed me a lot. And from that moment on, I thought it was necessary to make a film about the history of domestic workers. Later on, I had the chance to connect with this institute, because I would sometimes bring them films.
Before Antuca, we made a documentary, Porque quería estudiar (Because I Wanted to Study). My friend Vittoria Savio worked through evening schools to reach out to these girls, some of whom were very shy, who didn’t communicate, who didn’t express their sufferings. Then we saw, first of all, that with the testimony of Chela (Graciela Huaywa Collanqui, who plays Antuca), the girls were encouraged to tell their own stories. That’s when we managed to make a documentary with Chela’s story and the other girls that Vittoria captured in the evening schools in Lima.
Also, without realizing it, we were doing a casting. Because there, we saw who had, for example, expressive abilities, qualities to be the protagonists. But I always knew the protagonists had to be the workers themselves.
F.: Was it difficult to draw the line between these testimonies and creating fiction?
The girls who participated in the film were all girls who were already organized, who had gone through a process. When we made Antuca, there was already a very close relationship. So, when writing the script, I worked with testimonies I had gathered ten years earlier for Mujeres del Planeta (Women of the Planet). In Antuca, we recreated a series of experiences and lived events. But Antuca is not Chela’s story, although many things in Antuca’s story are also from Chela, or from other girls with similar experiences. That’s how the script was built.
F.: Why do you think cinema is a good medium for telling these stories?
I actually had a vocation for theater. But at the time I began to train, the theater that was usually seen was very stiff, and the audience was also very elitist. There wasn’t a type of theater like what later appeared with Yuyachkani and other groups with different proposals, in every sense—content and form. I’ve always had social concerns; I’ve always rebelled against injustices. But I didn’t have a political education, I didn’t go through a university. When I met (Luis) Figueroa, and he talked to me about cinema and its possibilities, that it could reach the masses, I thought, this is it. Because I felt I could channel my artistic and social concerns through cinema. Along the way, I also discovered an aesthetic that responds to a certain conception of cinema, a testimonial cinema with a critical view of society.
Still from Antuca. Credit: https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/antuca.
F.: One thing I think is very well achieved in the film is that it shows a social reality, but it doesn’t turn into something ideological. It shows these people’s lives without imposing a position on the audience. Was that a concern for you?
Of course, yes. I’ve always resisted the pamphlet-like approach. I think the important thing is to foster a critical view of our own condition as human beings or as a society. I believe that’s the foundation.
F.: Antuca’s character is a very empowered woman, despite suffering many abuses and being in a precarious situation. Were most of the cases you heard like that, or why did you decide to portray her in this way?
Well, these women do exist. And I think that’s what we should remember. The potential or the strength that our women have to push forward, despite all the difficulties they face, I think that’s what we should highlight. I think there are women who are victims and wallow in their suffering, and there are women who fight and push forward. And I think that’s what we should celebrate.
F.: Why do you think there’s a resurgence of interest in Antuca now?
What I see as a constant is that many young people—young men and women—who have had the opportunity to study, who may now be professionals with a different status… When they see the film, they say: this is what my mother used to tell me, or my grandmother… My mom came this way, she was a domestic worker, she went through the same thing…
And that’s part of our history, of many women from different parts of the world, but especially in the Andean countries. On the other hand, the drama of uprooting is very present in these times when so many people have had to migrate for different reasons, for different circumstances. Most of them for survival. And with the nuances that may exist, many people can fully identify with Antuca’s character.
F. Do you think the situation has changed?
I believe that as it appears in the film there may still be some cases. But women no longer tolerate the situation of semi-slavery in which they used to live. As the landlady says to Antuca at one point of the film: “Where are you going to be better?” As domestic workers, women have a bed, food. They may live in much better material conditions than they could if they were living on their own. But the need for freedom, to feel like yourself, ultimately, I believe is a vital need. So, they sacrifice material conditions to have a space where they can be themselves.
Screening of Antuca at the Peruvian Film Festival in Madrid, June 14 2024.
F. Have you stayed in contact with the women who participated in the testimonies to make Antuca or Porque quería estudiar?
I have never lost contact with them. Neither with the protagonist, nor with Josefina, who is one of the women who participated, nor with the institute IPROFOTH (Institute for the Promotion and Training of Domestic Employees), which is now about 40 years old. It has been very, very nice. In March, we held a screening with the participation of several of those who participated in the film and with young domestic workers. And it was wonderful. It was wonderful because it's their movie. It is also very nice to see how they continue to work and the level that they have reached as leaders now that they are very, very empowered and lucid women. And they continue working, they continue providing services and they also promote and participate in international events.
F. Is there any initiative to screen Antuca in Lima?
Yes. It will be shown at the Festival de Cine de Lima as part of the “Recovered Films” section, and also in a sample organized by the Ministry of Culture called “Bicentennial Films.” They have prepared a program that covers 50 years of cinema in Peru, and they have selected Antuca, which surprised me a lot. But I think it is a film that already transcends.
F. Now that a new law that affects cinema has been approved in Peru, what is your perception of the Peruvian cinema scene and how do you think this law will impact it?
I don’t know how things are going to turn out in the end because it's something to keep an eye on. Definitely, the mentality of the people who are currently making laws in Peru is caveman-like. We are seeing it everywhere, and cinema should not be an exception. But unfortunately, we must keep fighting. We must continue to fight because we are going through a disastrous period for everything related to culture in general, not just cinema.
Fernanda Cueto studied Philosophy in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is a writer for the Nueva Revista de Política, Cultura y Arte magazine in Madrid.
