Francesca Canepa is a Peruvian director committed to telling stories about social issues. El silencio del río, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2020, is her second short film shot in the Peruvian Amazon and was the first Peruvian short film to be nominated for the Oscars^®. Her first short film, Aya, shot in the Peruvian Andes, won the award for best Ibero-American short film at the 2017 Guadalajara International Film Festival and gained recognition among international critics. After being selected for Buenos Aires Talents in 2021 and BrLab in 2021, Francesca is currently developing her first feature film, La otra orilla, to be shot in 2024. Francesca holds a Master’s Degree in Film Directing from the Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Film from the Université Paul Valery in Montpellier. She is currently represented by production company Primo Content in Mexico, where she makes fiction films, documentaries and advertising.

La otra orilla [co-written with Miguel Ángel Papalini] — Living in the floating neighborhood of Iquitos, 12-year-old Belén gets up early as a fisherwoman, cooks while she eats lunch and closes her days as a food vendor — all to support herself and Ñaño, her 9-month-old son and brother. One day, Belén is invited to a Quinceañero celebration by a boy and, despite the dilemma this represents, her desire for belonging and freedom prevails.