Deconstructing Huaco Retrato

Film director Melina León and author Gabriela Wiener, both from Peru, will discuss literature, cinema, and the translation from one medium to the other. Melina is working on the cinema adaptation of Gabriela novel Huaco Retrato. Together, they will talk about questions of adaptation, especially how to honor the novel’s voice, honesty, and political depth while searching for the film’s own originality and identity. Their conversation will also address the current political violence in Peru, a topic at the heart of the novel through the lens of imperialism and colonization.

Gabriela Wiener is a Peruvian writer and journalist currently living in Madrid. She is the author of the books Sexografías, Nueve Lunas, Llamada Perdida, Dicen de Mí, as well as the book of poetry Ejercicios para el endurecimiento del espíritu. Her texts have been featured in national and international anthologies, and have been translated into English, Portuguese, Polish, French, and Italian. Gabriela Wiener’s first stories have appeared in the Peruvian magazine Etiqueta Negra. Wiener was editor in chief of the magazine Marie Claire España, and has contributed to the New York Times. She is now a columnist for El Diario.

Wiener won Peru’s National Journalism Award for an investigative report on a case of gender violence. She is the creator of several performances that she has staged together with her family. She recently wrote and starred in the play Qué locura enamorarme yo de ti. Her most recent novel Huaco Retrato will be published in French in June 2023. Forthcoming in Spanish are a collection of poems Una pequeña fiesta llamada eternidad, the script of Qué locura enamorarme yo de ti, and other writings.