Swiss Oscar Entry ‘Queens’ Helped Director Klaudia Reynicke Reconnect With Her Native Peru: “I Guess Cinema Allows This, Right?” – Contenders International

deadline.com:

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.