EL DESTINO NO TIENE FAVORITOS [DESTINY HAS NO FAVOURITES]

MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER AT 9:15PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 1

Country Peru Running Time 90 mins Format 35mm Director/Prod/S'play Alvaro Velarde DoP Micaela Cajahuaringa Cast Monica Steuer, Paul Vega, Celine Aguirre, Rebeca Raez, Tatiana Astengo Print Source Alvaro Velarde Productions E a_velarde@hotmail.com

Ana, a repressed housewife, has been left in the house while her husband, Ernesto, is away on a business trip. Much to Ana's annoyance, Ernesto has rented out their garden to one of the country's most popular soap-operas for production. Bored in her room, Ana finds herself addicted to watching the shooting of the soap-opera from the window. Unbeknown to the director, out of sheer boredom Ana successfully auditions for one of the new parts in the series. She is cast as the new queen bitch and is an instant hit. Ratings are rocketing, the plot twists are multiplied and whoever doesn't like her gets 'excused' from future episodes. Even the tabloids are full of praise for the new star. The other actors now spend their days frantically checking their scripts and wondering whether their characters will survive the next episode. But how long can this continue and how long will it take the director to discover that his muse, leading lady, and the owner of his plush new location are all the same person?

It's absolutely worth waiting to find out - the closing shot of what happened after the shoot ended is truly memorable. A delightfully offbeat comedy from Peru. AK

From 1993 Alvaro Velarde studied filmmaking in New York and completed two shorts in three years while working in the film department of the Museum of Modern Art. Back in Lima, Peru he completed his third short, which received awards from the Peruvian Festival of Shorts in 1999. This is his feature debut.