Cinema of Peru

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Cinema of Peru
No. of screens	625 (2017)[1]
• Per capita	1.8 per 100,000 (2017)[1]
Main distributors	Tondero Films (49.1%) Big Bang Films (12.7%) La Soga Producciones (10.1%)[2]
Number of admissions (2017)[3]
Total	51,785,998
National films	4,791,197 (9%)
Gross box office (2017)[3]
Total	PEN 567 million
National films	PEN 49.4 million (8.7%)

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While the Peruvian film industry has not been nearly as prolific as that of some other Latin American countries, such as Mexico or Argentina, some Peruvian movies produced enjoyed regional success. Historically, the cinema of Peru began in Iquitos in 1932 by Antonio Wong Rengifo (with a momentous, initial film billboard from 1900) because of the rubber boom and the intense arrival of foreigners with technology to the city, and thus continued an extensive, unique filmography, with a different style than the films made in the capital, Lima.^[4][5]

In Lima, the first Peruvian sound film (with synchronized music and some talking sequences) was Alberto Santana's Resaca, which was released in 1934. This was followed by another sound film entitled Cosas de la vida in 1934. The first all-talking picture, Buscando Olvido, was finally released in 1936.^[6]

More recently some bestselling novels by Peruvian author and talk show host Jaime Bayly, including No se lo Digas a Nadie and La Mujer de mi Hermano, have been made into movies. In fact, Francisco Jose Lombardi, perhaps the most important Peruvian filmmaker of recent years, has made most of his films from adaptations of important Peruvian novels. Peru also produced the first animated 3-D film in Latin America, Piratas en el Callao.^[7] This film is set in the historical port city of Callao, which during colonial times had to defend itself against attacks by Dutch and British privateers seeking to undercut Spain's trade with its colonies.^[8] The film was produced by the Peruvian company Alpamayo Entertainment, which made a second 3-D film one year later: Dragones: Destino de Fuego.^[9]

In February 2006, the film Madeinusa, produced as a joint venture between Peru and Spain and directed by Claudia Llosa, was set in an imaginary Andean village and describes the stagnating life of Madeinusa performed by Magaly Solier and the traumas of post-civil war Peru.^[10]

Claudia Llosa, who shared elements of Gabriel García Márquez's magic realism, won an award at the Rotterdam Film Festival.^[11] Llosa's second feature, The Milk of Sorrow ("La Teta Asustada"), was nominated for the 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Picture, the first Peruvian film in the academy's history to be nominated^[12] and, won the Golden Bear award at the 2009 Berlinale.^[13]

On April 11, 2013, The film ¡Asu Mare! premiered nationwide. This film is an adaptation of a stand-up comedy starring Carlos Alcántara Vilar. The film is actually an autobiography, in which Carlos Alcantara tells his life story and how he became the actor he is today. The film was written and produced by Carlos Alcantara and was a huge box-office hit. Since the release, the actor has gained a lot of popularity. The film is a testament that the comedy genre can strike the right chord in the Peruvian film audience.^[14][15]

The Peruvian film industry has witnessed unprecedented development during the late 2010s. In 2015 the number of cinema tickets sold in Peru was 46 million in comparison to Argentina's 52.1 million. Peru's television industry has also witnessed a comeback from the 1990s as indicative of the first half of 2016. Subscriptions to Peru cable company Movistar TV represented the third highest increase in Latin America, following that of Mexico and Brazil.^[16] According to PWC's Global Media Outlook 2019-2023 report, Peruvian total box office was $181 million that is expected to grow to $242 million by 2023. Despite, Peru being one of the smallest Latin American markets the number of screens increased to 661 in 2018 and would amount to 789 by 2023.^[17] In terms of Latin America in general, production levels are rising in the countries of Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina with the region expected to raise revenue from $2.4 billion in 2018 to $3.2 billion by 2023 with an annual growth rate of 5.7%.^[17]

2018 has been a record year for the box office of Peruvian cinema ever since the highs in 2013. Attendance amounted to a record seven million viewers. For the first time, Peruvian films were released monthly and all the films in the top ten national premieres managed to accumulate six-digit figures in their respective box office. The three main distributors in Peru are Tondero Films (49.1%), Big Bang Film (12.7%) and La Soga Producciones (10.1%).^[18]