Quechua-Andean and Spanish Knowledges in Fernando León de Aranoa's Amador (2010)

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhile documentary films have reflected the increased diversity and visibility of Latin American immigrants in Spanish cinema by exploring the experience of both South American and Caribbean women in Spain, there has been a tendency in Spanish fiction films to focus on the lives of Caribbean characters from Cuba and the Dominican Republic. This article argues that with the release of Amador in 2010, Fernando León de Aranoa ruptures this propensity to render invisible the existence, experiences, and knowledges of other Latin American immigrants in fiction film by creating Marcela, the Peruvian protagonist. By focusing its narrative on Marcela, Amador considers the potential that the immigrant's point of view—in Marcela's case one that is informed by the Quechua-Andean concept of tinkuy—has to facilitate socioeconomic mobility and agency of female immigrants and to positively impact the Spanish discourse around the contentious topic of immigration.