Daughter of writer Federico de Luque and of a special education professor, Paula de Luque is a director, screenwriter, actress and contemporary dancer as well as the founding director of the UNASUR Film Festival, which brings together the cinematic production of the 12 countries represented by UNASUR. De Luque co-directed with Sabrina Farji her first feature film, Blue Sky, Black Sky (2003), which is structured around the intersecting stories of four solitary characters, one of which being Violeta who approaches reality in a metacinematic manner through the lens of her video camera. The Dress (2008), de Luque’s second feature film, was shown at more than 20 international film festivals and presents a love triangle through a non-linear narrative structure that demands active participation on the part of the viewer.

De Luque takes on a historical perspective in her following two films, Juan and Eva (2011) and Néstor Kirchner, The Movie (2012). While Juan and Eva is a fictionalized account of the budding relationship between Juan Domingo Perón and Eva Duarte, Néstor Kirchner is a fast-paced documentary about the personal and political life of one of Argentina’s ex-presidents that combines testimonies and archival footage and that has become the target of much controversy. De Luque comments on the relationship between politics and aesthetics in the documentary:

Of course the film has a cinematographic quality that can be evaluated as good or bad; but I believe that the political will take center stage. From this point on, with time, perhaps the film can be seen more for its cinematographic craft than for its politics. (La Nación; my translation)

The director’s most recent release, the television miniseries titled The Truth (2015), is another love story that also explores the conflicted relationship between the media and the construction of reality, between power and ethics. On the topic of if her films can be considered “political,” de Luque responds: “Cultural politics is a function, not of the producers or actors, but of the audience. This shouldn’t be to support the artists, but rather so that people can identify with different viewpoints and interpretations of reality” (Diario Popular; my translation).

Vera R. Coleman

Arizona State University