The night came It is one of those Peruvian films that, with international awards, seem to respond to the obstacles of a sector of the political class. Director Paolo Tizón enters the barracks and makes a documentary about a group preparing to fight in the VRAEM. In July 2024, in the midst of the debates over the so-called ‘anti-cinema law’, the filmmaker spoke to the press in the Czech Republic, a country where he won two awards at the Karlovy Vary Festival about “the political and institutional crisis in the leadership of Congress” in Peru.
The young people in the documentary are between 18 and 22 years old. Tizón captures grueling training and gets closer to those who come from precarious environments, where being in the military is “the only option.” After a year of touring festivals and being screened in the United States, the documentary will premiere on Peruvian theaters on Thursday. “It is impossible for an artist that the situation and the upheaval do not affect the creative processes. There is a very serious political crisis, right? So, it is impossible to separate our works from the context,” he tells us from Arequipa.
For the film you arrived at barracks in Arequipa, Lima and Chiclayo. What has been their reaction to seeing Vino la noche?
They all talk about a process of transformation, of hardness, they seem a little removed from these figures that may be childish, perhaps, in some moments of the film, right? They feel that they have hardened. There is a feeling of surprise too, because they didn’t remember everything and there is a distance from themselves when they see the film. I think they must have faced difficult situations. Anyway, they don’t like to talk about it.
In that sense, this film is based on a concern about your family history. Do you remember when you decided to do it?
Well, the institutions of the Armed Forces, just as they go through the history of Peru, they also go through my family history. My father’s work was always there. He went to Cenepa when my mother was pregnant, and so, there is something there that is a bit speculative mythological, there is something about his work that marks my life a little over the years, in many ways. I lived surrounded by uniforms, weapons. They went to the Military Parade and they dressed me as a little soldier when I was a baby (smiles). I was very curious to know what the military world was about, and when you are young they protect you from that; There is a veil of mystery. I have been growing up listening to what they said, the history of Peru in this relationship with the Armed Forces and what happened in the internal armed conflict. Suddenly, the view on the military begins to become more complex, right? I had a lot of questions and I tried to answer them through a film.
Did you answer them then?
Some (smiles). I understand my father a little better now. There’s something on the economic side that I hadn’t considered and that, after making the film, I realized that I was forgetting something very obvious: sometimes these institutions can fill not only the economic side, they can fill some gaps from other sides. The movie helped me not be so hard on him. Even though I wouldn’t go into the Air Force, I understand where he came from and his decisions.
The journey of your film has coincided with a critical juncture for Peruvian cinema, but also on a political level. At what moment would you say Vino la noche is released in Peru?
Well, I remember that the massacres of 2022-2023 with Boluarte grabbed me during the editing period and the darkest scene of the film on a literal and symbolic level also appears because of that. The situation sneaks into the creative process and manifests itself in a poetic and cinematic way, right? But it is expressed and sneaks in by force. Now it is released in the context of insecurity and the question about the military is: do we take them out on the streets? are you ready? El Perú renews the possible readings for the film.
Peruvian cinema: the documentaries ‘Vino la noche’ and ‘Family Policies’ are released
Well, he will share the bill with Chavin de Huantar. What reading do you give to it??
(Smiles) It is a context in which one could ask: what relationship can this type of training have with citizen insecurity? Coinciding with Chavín de Huantar seems like a fascinating cultural phenomenon to me. It’s fascinating that two films from such different sides are on the same billboard. They can talk to each other, echo and contradict each other. It seems to me that a great discussion can be generated, a short circuit: one talks about the past and the other is very present; one is with actors, the other is with real people.
You have been critical of the current film law promoted by Congress and which, evidently, harms the making of documentaries. There is talk of more productions supported by the military. Did that speech against the filmmakers have more to do with politics?
I will always be in favor of public policies that strengthen art, right? which is how it works in different parts of the world. That should always be there, there should be critical voices and of course the SWOT model is good, but it is also insufficient. And authoritarianism has always seemed fatal to me, right? There is a desire for authoritarianism and it seems disastrous to me. But, for example, thinking now about Chavín de Huántar, I think it has the right to exist. I saw it, paid my ticket, and thought it was a little superficial, but it’s not as propagandistic as I thought and I was grateful that it wasn’t. I also thought that it coincides with Keiko’s nomination and it is a campaign in which he is taking more of the Fujimori side, which had him a little further away. So, in politics nothing is a coincidence. It is a film that has to be seen in its context.
For the omissions of a film?
I don’t know, but it’s interesting that the viewer can wonder. It seems terrible to me to imagine a ‘Bukele plan’, that idea of a heavy hand, a totalitarian sense instead of the plurality of ways of existing. We see José Jerí with his shirt rolled up and there is symbolic rhetoric, right? Contemporary fascism looks like this; It is terrible, but the way to begin to address it is to repeal pro-crime laws.
In this context,The night came Do you also face any prejudice?
There may be those who are used to seeing a soldier on the big screen and associating him with propaganda, right? Because the military world, cinema and political propaganda have a very old alliance. But, once you see the film, I think those prejudices are dismantled; It can show some gray areas of the institution, one can ask questions and think about the country. It does not seek to delete anything.
- Premiere. Enter the national billboard on Thursday, November 13.
- Co-production. Film produced by Spain, Peru and Mexico. He won incentives from the Ministry of Culture.
- Prize. Tizón achieved recognition with his debut film in Spain and the Czech Republic.
- In the United States. The film also premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
