When Klaudia Reynicke was considering what to do with the rest of her life, she started to study anthropology after initially going into fine arts, ultimately getting a master’s degree in the subject before turning her attention to film.
“I went to the cinema because I felt took all the anthropology and the art and made it into one big language and the creation of it is amazing,” said Reynicke. “You get to work with many people [because] you can’t just do it by yourself, unless you do small experimental films. And that’s what I wanted. I actually wanted to be part of a team and to be able to create with others.”
All of this background and desire is on full display in “Reinas,” her tender third feature that summons her youth in Peru while telling the story of changes for the entire nation during the early 1990s when the country was plagued with financial instability and many were looking for the exits. Reynicke recognizes the events as a fascinating backdrop for the plight of a family where a mother Elena (Jimena Lindo) has already started planning for a new life in America, planning to take daughters Aurora (Luana Vega) and Lucia (Abril Gjurinovic) to Minnesota where she has a new job waiting for her. However, she needs the signature of her ex-husband Carlos (Gonzalo Molina) to allow for their kids’ travel, which on the surface wouldn’t seem to be much of a concern when she’s taken care of the kids for some time and continues to have a cordial relationship with him on his all too rare visits when he’s still indulging his fantasies of an acting career while driving a cab and flighty by nature. With less than a week before resettling in the U.S., Carlos is obliged to stop by for Aurora’s birthday and knowing his time with his beloved “reinas” is fleeting, invites them out for local adventures so they have some memories of beaches and the sand dunes to take with them.
Reynicke not only cleverly positions the story at a time of national turmoil, but situates a dilemma that a family of any nationality would have with Aurora just entering her teens and interested in her independence while her younger sister Lucia is eager to stay as close to her parents as possible, making a separation that’s already been agreed to by their parents particularly wrenching. While the kids’ loyalties become divided, the film comes together beautifully, illustrating the fears shared by all in a society where the infrastructure was falling apart while looking inside a house where well-intentioned white lies intended for protection start to pile up between family members to the point where they could become dangerous. The stakes couldn’t be higher when one knows how difficult it would be to see the family torn apart upon forging such a connection with the charming cast that the director has assembled. With “Reinas” now stealing hearts at Sundance, Reynicke spoke about reconnecting with her own roots, locating the perfect people and places to appear in the film and how arriving in Park City is the culmination of a lifelong dream.
How did this come about?
I just wanted to reconnect with Peru somehow but I didn’t think it like this. When I started writing this film about six years ago, I had this need to create a story about a family that used to be together that was not together anymore and that was going to be together before they all separated again. Before even knowing anything [about the story] I knew about the title “Reinas,” and somehow little by little I started building the story. Then a year later, I called Diego Vega, my co-writer [who’s] Peruvian, but lives in Barcelona and I [said], “I’m writing this film set in Peru, but I have been disconnected with Peru because I went away when I was a kid and would love to be able to write with someone who’s Peruvian but also disconnected for a little bit” because he and his brother [moved] to Mexico and our lives were a bit similar. He had more connection to Peru because his brother still lives [there] and actually co-produced the film, but [the film grew out of] a personal will to be able to reconnect with a part of myself and choose a story that could connect with everyone.
The age difference between the two sisters sets up a great dramatic tension. Was that in mind from the start?
It was very important for me to have two different identities for the sisters and the age makes that because we’re so different from when you are 10 or 11 years old to when you are 13 or 14. It’s two worlds. You don’t have the same interests, and one really wants to be with mom because she’s young and that’s all she cares about. And the other one wants her friends and the boyfriend and all the parties because that’s what we do when we’re 14. So it was very important for me to create this imbalance [where] It all depends what age you are. The complexity is going to be totally different, [just] as it is for the mother who’s an adult and has her own issues about living in Peru and finding a job abroad and needing this signature.
What was it like casting your central pair of actresses?
It was a nightmare because we started the search a year prior [to production] and then COVID hit so we had to talk for a year and then we went back searching. I was watching all these videos and I couldn’t find [the sisters] especially Lucia, the youngest one. At some point very very late in the process, the casting managers went to a shopping mall and they saw this girl with her dad and they approached her. She had never acted and she accepted to do the casting and I received [the audition tape] right away. As soon as I saw her, she was so true. It was amazing and then [the casting directors] told me “Well we can’t find her anymore because we think she doesn’t live in Peru.” And I’m like, “What what do you mean?” And she was actually living in Brussels and had a similar story to Lucia — [she] had moved away with her mom and her dad was still in Peru, so when she was at the shopping mall, she was visiting her dad. That was amazing and I think that might have helped her to be so at ease in this.
For Aurora, Luana is the daughter of Diego Daniel Vidal, our co-producer and I had been searching a lot for Aurora and at some point, I saw her passing behind [Diego] on the Zoom and I’m like, “How old is your daughter?” And he’s like 14. And I said, “Wait, she’s the age of the girl that I’m looking for. Is your daughter interested in making the casting?” And he [said] “No, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with acting.” He’s also a director and she grew up with this, but she’s like no way. But we were able to convince her to go with one of her friends who [ended up playing a friend of Aurora’s in the film] to a casting and when she was there, the [other] girls were like, “Do you want to do it?” And she said, “I’m going to do it, but I’m not going to be an actress.” And she did it and I thought “She’s perfect,” so we were able to convince her to do the role and I think she’s truly amazing.
That attitude is perfect for the film. Once you get the two sisters in a room together and see their dynamic, was there anything you could get excited about?
The two young girls got to be very close, just like two little sisters, outside of the set and that helped a lot to create this relationship that we see on the screen. Sometimes they were really mean to each other but it was funny because when they would play this [in the film] and as soon as I would [say] “Cut,” they were like, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” and would hug each other. So it was very organic and [in general] it was a very calm and beautiful group of actors. We ate so well too being in Peru.
What was it like finding the locations?
It was great because I hadn’t been back [to Peru] in a very long time, so this process of searching for the right places was very important. We were looking for the grandma’s house, and most of the houses were visiting were inhabited, so I had this amazing feeling that I was, going to see my old uncles and and aunts and it was amazing to see the life back again. Then for the beach and this all these other places, I was totally inspired. Some scenes we changed a little bit depending on the places that we found, but once you are there you get very inspired by what you see. What you wrote was only in your mind, so it’s going to change and it was amazing.
Were the sand dunes always in the script? That seems like it might’ve been a crazy day of filming.
It was a crazy day. I did write in these crazy dunes, and that [day] was a lot of fun. We were very scared, especially the [cinematographer] because he had to hold the camera [inside the car as it rumbled around], but the girls had a lot of fun. Obviously, we didn’t put them in there [during the bumpiest moments] because it became a bit dangerous but I used to do that when I was a child, which is why it’s part of the story and it was so much fun to reproduce it.
There’s a real casual beauty to the cinematography. Was it mostly natural light?
When we are outside, it was a lot of natural light, but on the [interiors] there was a lot of work of setting up lights to make it as natural as we could. Diego Romero, our [cinematographer] had this [idea] where we didn’t want to push the aesthetics too much or have this studio [feel]. We just wanted to make it very real, even though he did use a lot of lights like any [cinematographer] would and he did an amazing job. I’m still in awe because when I imagined the film in my head, and we had tons of references, it was great to actually see that. He went beyond these references and I could really feel the film as part of my memory, which is totally insane.
What’s it like to bring the film to Sundance?
I’m still in awe. I’ve never been to Sundance and I feel so honored that the film was picked to have its premiere there. It’s the greatest gift because when when I was 10, I came to live in Europe, but I went to the U.S. when I was 18 and I lived there for eight years, so a part of me is very North American and growing up I would go to university and pick my DVDs that had the little Sundance logo and back then, I was not even making films. I was in anthropology, but I knew the quality of such a festival, so it’s really like a dream coming true, having my very personal film suddenly having this world premiere in this place that I love so much. To me, it’s already like wow, we’re going there and from there anything can happen, so I’m already very very excited and very happy.
“Reinas” will screen at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23rd at 7:15 pm at the Redstone Cinemas 7 in Park City, January 25th at 8:15 pm at the Broadway Centre Cinemas 3 in Salt Lake City and January 26th at 3:45 pm at the Redstone Cinemas 7 in Park City. It will also be available to stream from January 25th through 28th.