A gay soccer team, a group of talented artists and a one-armed, legless dancer are just three testaments to the distinct culture of Iquitos. Once remote in both culture and location from the rest of Peru, Iquitos is becoming increasingly well-known to an international audience of movie-goers.
As the inspiration for “Amazónico Soy,” a documentary directed by José María Salcedo, the people of Iquitos represent an aspect of South American life unknown to most University students. Iquitos, the largest city in the Amazon, is a trade port in a region only accessible by boat and plane. As a result, its people and their unique talents have been hidden from the rest of the world, Salcedo said. In an effort to publicize Iquitos and his own film, Salcedo screened the film last Wednesday in Minor Hall.
With “Amazónico Soy,” Salcedo said he wanted to pay a tribute to the community of Iquitos that would make the struggles and perseverance of its people known throughout the world. The movie focuses on a group of street urchins called “La Restinga” — which means “to the place where the river doesn’t reach” — showing the path one group of people take to stay optimistic despite facing adversity. One such member of “La Restinga” is Nico, a legless, one-armed man who makes his living as a breakdancer.
Katherine Willcox, administrative assistant for the University’s study abroad program in Peru, said Nico first started dancing on street corners to provide a living for his family. As a child, his father left him, and “his mother lament[ed] that she even had him,” Willcox said. Nico now has a family of his own and provides for them through his dancing, Willcox added, noting that Nico also uses dancing to express his appreciation for God and the life he has been given, traveling and performing all over Peru. The film displays how the people of Iquitos truly “appreciate life” and that they are “living life to the fullest,” Willcox said.
Daniel Chavez, assistant professor of Spanish and American Studies and a member of the discussion panel that followed the screening, said the film “will give hope [to the homeless in America]” and will lead to organizing greater unity within the American community. Chavez also said it will show that “poverty is not always a synonym with helplessness.”
Salcedo said “Amazónico Soy” poses the question of how “people who ... are able to resist the struggle, bad luck and misery” manage to survive with happiness in spite of all adversity, while Willcox said she believes the film will not only be a great success but will “change [America’s] perception of the world.”
The film is set to open in the United States within the year. Its name will be changed from “Amazónico Soy” to simply “Amazónico” for American audiences. Salcedo said he is very optimistic about how Americans will receive his work.
Salcedo said he has devoted his life to working in and around the film industry. He has previously held minor acting roles in films, written scripts for films and worked as a radio personality. He was born in Spain, but at the age of 4 moved to Lima, Peru, which he now calls home. Salcedo is well-known for his journalism and cable television show, which featured the University’s philosophy chair Jorge Secada, the head of the University’s study abroad program in Peru.
Secada will be featured in Salcedo’s next film project “Ashánika,” which features a unique collaboration of fiction, non-fiction and documentary film styles. The film will discuss Secada’s transition between his life in Peru and at the University and also will document several University students who were a part of the study abroad program in Peru. Salcedo filmed these students during their time in Peru and again when he visited the University last week. The majority of the filming for “Ashánika” is complete and will hopefully be done by the end of this year, Salcedo said.
Through his films — such as “Amazónico Soy” — Salcedo said he seeks “to discover something new ... everyday”.
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