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. (Ted Fendt)

J.D. Fernández Molero is a Peruvian filmmaker, producer, and editor. His films include Reminiscences (2010), presented at MoMA’s Modern Mondays in 2011, and Videophilia (and other viral syndromes), which won the Tiger Award at the 2015 International Film Festival Rotterdam as well as the Hubert Bals Fund for post-production, and was the Peruvian candidate for the 89th Academy Awards. Punku (2025), his second fiction feature, won the Visions Sud Est production grant and a grant from the Peruvian National Film Fund of the Ministry of Culture for feature film development and production.

Director J.D. Fernández Molero. Screenplay J.D. Fernández Molero. Cinematography Johan Carrasco Monzón. Editing J.D. Fernández Molero. Music Carlos Gutiérrez Quiroga. Sound Design Fernando Mendoza Salazar. Sound Cesar Centeno Yauri. Production Design Susana Torres. Costumes Andrea Martolleret. Animation Diego Vizcarra. Producers Verónica Ccarhuarupay, J.D. Fernández Molero. Executive Producer J.D. Fernández Molero. Production company Tiempo Libre (Quillabamba, Peru). With Marcelo Quino, Maritza Kategari, Ricardo Delgado, Hugo Sueldo.

Films: 2010: Reminiscences. 2015: Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes). 2025: Punku.