Introduction:
Film Criticism: In Peru, in My Life
By Natalia Ames (Peru)

Although Peru is better known by its ancient past, its rich culture and its astonishing ruins, it also has a tradition of film criticism in which I am just one of the recently added pieces. We do not have a strong cinematographic industry (in 2007, only three Peruvian movies were commercially released), but nowadays there is an effervescence of new publications and web-blogs that show the good moment of film criticism in my country.

Regarding my personal experience, I have published articles of film criticism for five years, since the age of 19, but my passion for movies began much earlier. From my childhood onwards I have been going to the movies almost religiously, and during my adolescence I discovered independent cinema. This changed the way I thought about film, because the demands made on the viewer were completely different, as were the expectations about the plot, characters or cinematic style.

I remember the turning point was when I saw Krzysztof Kieslowski's film Three Colors: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu). From that moment on, I realized I wanted not only to watch movies, but also to analyze them in depth, in order to understand them and find the structures they use to produce their effects in the audience. My film criticism has gone hand in hand with my love for cinema, and as Serge Daney would say, I would like to spend my life analyzing the films that watched me as I grew up (and, of course, all the films that will watch me from now on).

I really believe in the power of a sharp criticism to influence the reception of films, and I think the critics, as intensive viewers, can find many ways to promote quality in the cinematographic industry of a country, not only in the filmmaking domain but also in the offer of international cinema. In Peru we have started last year the Association of Film Critics, which is working to improve the poor conditions of our cinematographic offer (most of the cinema from outside U.S.A. does not reach our theaters) and is planning to organize educational activities like conferences and seminars about regional filmmaking.

For me, film criticism is a way to communicate a passion, but also an intellectual tool to learn more about cinema and establish feedback channels between viewers and filmmakers. That is the reason why I think that film critics have a very important role in countries like Peru whose cinematographic industry is starting to develop.

Natalia Ames

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