GREAT RECOGNITION TO LEONIDAS ZEGARRA, THE GREATEST FILMMAKER EVER!
In a country without film industry, whose social institutions aren't interested in building such thing due to the ideological competition it could create with already well established organizations, it is refreshing that a film producer, writer and director like Leonidas Zegarra pulled off a movie like Theoretially, a paranoid conspiratorial phone call in 2020, during the inconveniences caused by COVID-19, and even finished the year with his feature film at the first position in popularity (among 18 2020 Peruvian feature films) according to the IMDb Advanced Title Search.
Naturally, the Peruvian circles devoted to the audiovisual production and criticism cannot be happy with such a result because it is a cultural imposition forced by the American hegemony in the mass media field. Mr. Zegarra, already hated by his taste, shouldn't have his movie in such a position. As his media adviser, I understand the feeling and I have explained how this outcome can be achieved in a paper presented at the Main National School of Theater (Escuela Nacional Superior de Arte Dramático) on Saturday, November 7, 2020. In addition to this, as the writer, director, and leading man in Theoretically, a paranoid conspiratorial phone call, I understand that a piece of art like this cannot be understood by people who think that a feature film should resemble a Hollywood movie. So, the result hurts even more the cultural pride of a large number of people whose social positions don't condition them to understand movies as art. After all, I have undergone a doctoral program in the History of Art. I must understand the distance in accumulated knowledge. Anyway, I must accept, too, that my actions were premeditated and that, as a social scientist and artist, I feel proud of collaborating with Mr. Zegarra (who, it is said, passed away on December 29, 2020) and contributing to obtain this output for my first work as writer-director-actor. Obviously, I understand the relativity of this attainment and, at least, it contributes to my amusement for a while.
Let's make something more meaningful next time!
Jorge Villacorta
