Director Melina León is the Third Peruvian Female Director to Compete at the Oscars® and the First to Compete at the Cannes Film Festival
“Song Without a Name” (“Canción sin nombre”), a critically acclaimed, award-winning drama directed by Melina León, has been announced as Peru’s International Feature Film entry for the 93rd Academy Awards®. León becomes the third Peruvian female director to represent Peru at the Oscars® since 1967, when the country first started to submit its films to the awards, following in the footsteps of Claudia Llosa, whose “The Milk of Sorrow” at the 82nd Academy Awards® became the first and only Peruvian film to ever receive a nomination.
“Song Without a Name” premiered in Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, with León becoming the first Peruvian female director in history to have a film in competition at the festival.
Ranking as one of the most successful Peruvian movies of all time due to its international critical acclaim and commercial success, “Song Without a Name” has screened at more than 100 film festivals globally and received more than 40 international awards, including the Cinevision Award at Munich International Film festival and New Voices New Visions Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Strikingly and geometrically shot in moody black and white tones by Peruvian cinematographer Inti Briones, one of Variety’s 2013 10 Cinematographers to watch, the soundtrack is by award-winning composer, performer and improvisor Pauchi Sasaki. The film was written by León and Michael J. White, and stars Pamela Mendoza, Tommy Párraga, Lucio Rojas, Maykol Hernández and Lidia Quispe.
“Song Without a Name” was inspired by a true story, originally reported by León’s journalist father Ismael León, about child trafficking in 1980s Peru when the country was facing one of the worst financial and political crises in history. The film follows a young mother whose newborn baby disappears from a fake health clinic and the young journalist who investigates the case.
León is based in Lima and New York, and holds a Columbia University (New York) Master’s Degree in Film Direction. Her short film, El Paraíso de Lili, premiered at the 47th New York Film Festival and won 11 awards, including Best Latin-American Film at the Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival. https://melina-leon.com/
“Song Without a Name” was shot in Peru’s capital Lima, founded in 1535 and the third largest city in the Americas after Sao Paulo and Mexico City. The film’s locations also included Peru’s jungle capital of Iquitos, which is hidden deep in the Peruvian Amazon and is the largest town in the world not connected by road.
Peru, with its scenic locations, trained film crews and low production costs, is considered an attractive and competitive shooting destination for both the national and international film and television industries and co-productions with other countries. https://peru.info/en-us/filminperu
A La Vida Misma Films production in co-production with La Mula Producciones, MGC and Bord Cadre Films, “Song Without a Name” was released in the U.S. in August 2020. It has exhibited in such countries as Greece, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, and has been available since December 8, 2020 on such platforms as iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and Fandango Now, among others. https://filmmovement.com/press/film/song-without-a-name-cancion-sin-nombre
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