Samantha Avila is a Peruvian director, writer and photographer with a vast universe to share. After graduating from the University of Lima with a bachelor’s degree in communication and from Lima’s Centro de la Imagen school as a photographer, her career brought her to Mexico City to work on different personal and commissioned film and photography projects. Confident that visual narratives are powerful vehicles for overcoming social barriers and challenging viewers’ perspectives, she founded the production company Res Films and directed short films like Camino (Path) (2018) and POV (2019) before being selected for the Berlinale Talents Buenos Aires’ directing cohort in 2021. After several years working in advertising, in 2024 she directed Puquio, a raw portrayal of motherhood set after the Shining Path terrorist attacks in the Peruvian highlands, and she is currently developing her debut feature film, Lengua materna (Mother Tongue).

Mother Tongue — In the wake of the Shining Path terrorist attacks in Peru, a young woman, her estranged mother and their orphaned live-in nanny confront the haunting legacy of war, unraveling the complex ties of motherhood, trauma and identity.