Punku

Along a river in the Peruvian jungle, Meshia, a Matsigenka teenager, finds young, unconscious Iván, two years after he has vanished. She takes him to a hospital in the city of Quillabamba where he receives urgently needed eye surgery and is reunited with his family. They invite Meshia to stay with them and she takes a job at their bar. Soon, she enters a dark rabbit hole involving a beauty pageant and predatory men, while Iván sets himself apart by refusing to speak. Meanwhile, his damaged sight is haunted by strange visions (evocatively depicted on hand-processed Super 8 and 16mm). In Punku (the Quechua word for ‘gateway’), J.D. Fernández Molero unnervingly explores being young in contemporary Peru, with its jumble of late-stage capitalism, traditional culture, and strongly defined gender roles. Here, indigenous teenagers broadcast their lives on TikTok and homeopathic potions are as trusted as modern medicine. Tinged with autobiographical touches, Punku is the story of unlikely friendship between Iván and Meshia, who find commonality as outsiders.