Kinra (Motherland), the debut film by Marco Panatonic, has been selected as Peru's official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards. Winner of the Golden Astor for Best Film at the 2023 Mar del Plata International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere, the Quechuan drama was also a six-time winner at the 28th Lima Film Festival, including Best First Film.
Told in Quechua and Spanish, Kinra follows a young man’s internal struggle between his Andean roots and urban life as he pursues engineering studies in Cusco. Although he finds friends who welcome him along his journey, he cannot forget his family or the land where he grew up. Returning is the only path he sees, even if it means starting anew, for his heart remains divided—just like his country.
This marks the 32nd Oscar submission for Peru, though the country has only secured one nomination in its history: Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow / La Teta Asustada in 2009.
