Movie reccomendation: "Viaje a Tombuktú"

On Tuesday night there was a screening of this movie, “Viaje a Tombuctú” (Trip to Timbuktu) at the university where I am studying. 

The movie is about a girl, Ana, growing up in Lima in the 1980’s. During this time, the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path) rebel movement was terrorizing the country. As the movie progresses, the violence grows and we see its effects through the eyes of Ana.

Here is the description from IMDB, as they summarize it better than I do:

"Trip to Timbuktu is the story of Ana and Lucho, two teenagers who live in Peru. Their story of love, which starts in childhood, reveals the changes which took place in this country during the 80’s. For them, the only way to survive in the middle of violence, poverty and lack of opportunities is through their love, a sort of refuge which has as its homeland an imaginary country called Timbuktu. Nevertheless, the reality will stand in their way and collapse their utopia"

The film was very well made and moving. Even though I couldn’t understand everything that was being said, the acting was so good that it didn’t matter.

The coolest part of this experience was that the director of the film and the actors/actresses are all current or former students at PUCP (the university where I am studying)!! They were there after the film for a Q&A session. 

The movie had so much success at film festivals that it will be released in Peruvian mainstream cinemas soon!

I thought I’d link to the wikipedia page about the Sendero Luminoso if you want to read more about the group and the violence and civil war of the 1980’s in Peru:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Path