Claudia Llosa was born in Lima, Peru in 1976. She pursued her studies in film at the University of Lima, New York University (NYU) and the Escuela de Artes y Cine (TAI) of Madrid. She worked in the advertising industry in Barcelona and currently combines her workof directing films with the more commercial side of creating TV commercials. She is likely the most aclaimed contemporary Peruvian film director.

 

     Claudia Llosa wrote the script of her opera prima, Madeinusa, in Barcelona where she was living at the time, although the films was filmed in Peru. After winning the Havana Prize for best original script in 2003, Llosa presented the film at the Sundance Festival in 2006.

 

     She uses non-professional actors such as Magaly Solier, a girl Llosa met in Ayacucho and who became the protagonist of Madeinusa as well as The Milk of Sorrow. With this second film Claudia Llosa received the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2009 and it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

 

     Her short films El niño Pepita (2010) and Loxoro (2012) have also been well received by international critics. Aloft is her latest film, starring Jennifer Connelly and shot in Canada. In this film Llosa moves from the Spanish language and the Quechua actors of her other movies to the English language and a Hollywood cast.

 

     Llosa's image has been quite controversial. Even though some of her films show the reality of indigenous people in Peru, her white skin, international education,  life abroad, and the high class to which she belongs separate her from the topics she explores. Many Peruvians see her as an intruder who uses poor people without giving back to their communities. She is certainly well connected to the artistic world: her mother Patricia Bueno is an artist, her uncle Luis Llosa was also a successful film director, and she is the niece of Nobel Prize writer Mario Vargas Llosa. Nevertheless, Claudia Llosa has made a name of her own, and her narrative images captivate audiences with a particular sense of aesthetics and a sensitive perspective.

 

María José Domínguez

Arizona State University