Deep in the Peruvian Amazon lowlands, Meshia, a Matsigenka Indigenous teenager, discovers Ivan, a young boy who vanished two years ago and was presumed dead. Determined to save him, she embarks on a journey upriver into the mountains, heading to the city of Quillabamba. Ivan urgently needs eye surgery to halt an infection threatening his sight. As a withdrawn Ivan struggles with the trauma of his mysterious past and haunting dreams, Meshia becomes mesmerized by the city's allure. Fueled by ambition and fragile illusions, she enters a local beauty pageant. Despite Ivan's silence, an uncanny bond grows between them. But when a stranger with sinister intentions emerges, their inner worlds—and their fragile connection—are put at risk. Shot on a mix of 16mm, Super 8, and digital formats, Punku—meaning 'gateway' in Quechua—is a hybrid fiction film that blurs the boundaries between the seen and unseen, offering a portal into overlapping realities and dimensions.
Born in 1987, Juan Daniel Fernández Molero is a Peruvian director, producer and editor known for the experimental doc Reminiscences (2010), screened at FIDMarseille and MoMAs Modern Mondays prestigious avant-garde film program, and the post-internet feature Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes) (2015), which won the Tiger Award for Best Film at the 44th Rotterdam International Film Festival and was Perus submission for the 89th Academy Awards. His second feature is the hybrid fiction Punku (2025), which had its world premiere in the Forum section of the 75th Berlinale and won the Grand Prix at the 25th New Horizons IFF and Best Feature Film at the 15th Bucharest Experimental IFF. Molero has worked as editor on Alba (2016), The Lost Pussy of the Incas (2019), and Huaquero (2024), for which he won the Artistic Achievement award for Best Editing at the 19th International Film Festival - Belo Horizonte. He co-produced Fiebre (2022) and is executive producer of the upcoming feature film Valvas by Andrea Hoyos.
Tiempo Libre
