Although Queens (Reinas) is Switzerland’s entry for the International Feature Oscar this year, the movie is actually set in Peru and told in Spanish. Director and co-writer Klaudia Reynicke, who left her native Peru at the age of 10, says the film helped her reconnect with her roots after spending most of her life in Europe and the U.S.
“I didn’t think it in a conscious way, but I had a need of going back to Peru and shooting something in Spanish,” she said during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International awards-season showcase. “Now that I have done it,” Reynicke added, “I can see that it was actually very important this reconnection, something has changed. I guess cinema allows this, right?”
While Queens is not Reynicke’s own personal story, “it’s definitely very, very connected to it,” she said.
The touching family drama — which also has comedic elements — is set in 1992 Peru as the country undergoes social and political upheaval. Single mother Elena is making plans to leave the country with her daughters Lucía and Aurora, but needs their predominantly absent father, Carlos, to sign papers to allow the daughters to cross a border. The girls, whom the well-intentioned but hapless Carlos calls “queens,” are at first skeptical of him. But they eventually warm to their father as the impending farewell from home and family draws ever nearer.
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This is Reynicke’s third feature, and premiered at Sundance before going on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature in the Generation Kplus strand of Berlin. In Locarno, it won the Audience Award and took Best Screenplay at the Festival de Lima in Peru.
Gonzalo Molina, who plays Carlos, describes the character as “a broken man” who thinks the only way to be forgiven “by these two lovely kids is calling them queens … Carlos thinks that they are better in many ways than him.” He also “doesn’t know how to repair the damage, but he tries to make things a little better.”
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Luana Vega, who plays Aurora, says she had to “search for these feelings” when playing “the resentment Aurora has … Aurora has lived more of this not-present father and Lucía hasn’t, so I think that’s why she tries to take advantage of him.”
And yet, the family does come together before parting ways, with Reynicke framing them as a unit. “When you feel that this group of people is becoming a family finally, and the camera embraces them, that’s when you know there is going to be a big separation,” she said. “But to me it’s not really a bad ending, it’s actually life. The family has gained in love and has gained in solidity.”
Check back Monday for the panel video.
