Synopsis:
Killari (10, female) prepares for an Andean dance competition. She wants to practice with her mom, Regina (47). While eating at home, they are intervened by armed soldiers, who force them to leave their home and walk to a flat grassland. In there, Killari, Regina and other community members are forced to dig a 1 meter deep pit. Everyone thinks they are being overworked to make a fish farm, though nobody really knows. Commuters are threatened by the soldiers every time they speak Quechua. Tensions mount as night falls. In a surreal instant, communuters are pushed into the pit by the soldiers. After hours, Regina who survives, wakes up over dead bodies. She leaves the pit. Guillermina sees her mother’s handkerchief on top of the bodies. She knows, the commuters and her mom has been killed. Guillermina dances in front of the pit as a farewell.
Director’s Statement:
My short film is called TUSUY – which means to dance in Quechua. This is a Quechua short film aimed to be shot in Peru. TUSUY takes place in the 1980s, during the internal armed conflict period in Cusco, Peru – where unfortunately the indigenous population of my country was affected the most due to ignorance and prejudice – informing about the marginalization that these communities went and go through. In TUSUY, I want to mainly speak about the powerful bonding of Andean communities and their passionated dreams. I hope to give voice to the magical dance traditions, importance of language revitalization and Quechua as an everyday form of resistance.
Quechua is not a dead language. Quechua communities are alive, and many of them have migrated to Lima for a prosperous future. My family did, and when I was 15 years old I had to migrate to the US for a similar reason
Key Personnel:
Director: Darinka Arones (she/her) is a Peruvian interdisciplinary artist pursuing a BFA in Film and TV with a minor in Studio Art at NYU. As an Andean immigrant, Arones is interested in showcasing portrayals of the emotional psychology process of migrating and adapting. In her art, she uses saturated colors to highlight the intensity of her homesickness, grief, and melancholy sentiments. She aims to understand the duality of experiences accompanying immigrants from different ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses.
Darinka’s Quechua background has motivated her to investigate the collectivity, perspective, and existence of her Andean identity and the Quechua language in Western culture. She is Co-President of ROC, a Quechua club at NYU; and Communications Chair of the Latinidad club at Tisch. Website: www.darinkart.com
Director of Photography: Emilio Rios (he/him) is a Mexican-American senior in the Film and TV department. He is Co-President of Latinidad, the first Latinx club at Tisch. He centers his work on bicultural identity and long-distance family relationships. Emilio has shot his first feature movie in 2023.
Tisch Producer: Carter Naranjo (they/them) is a Film & TV and Art History student at NYU. They have experience in Producing, Cinematography, Writing, and Animation (such award winning projects they’ve worked on are “Clean Sheet” and “To Fifty Years of Happiness”). Carter is a child of an Ecuadorian immigrant.
Casting Director: Anibal Lozano (he/him) is a Peruvian casting director and actor. He resides in Lima, Peru. Anibal has a professional casting experience of 5 years.
