“The art of drag queens is not valued enough in Peru”

Alberto Castro Antezana (Lima, 1989), has ventured into the film world playing more than one role. He is a producer, assistant director, and has just released the trailer announcing the premiere of his first feature documentary in Lima movie theaters: “Drag Invasion”.

We are facing a documentary that was filmed in 2019, during the fever that Peru experienced regarding the visit of various drag queen stars, all of them participants in the successful reality show Ru Paul Drag’s Race. “Invasión drag” speaks of a community that finds in a transgressive art not only a way of life, but a form of freedom.

— It is very difficult for a documentary to reach theaters, what path did “Drag Invasion” take to achieve it?

I was surprised by the reception in theaters, because “Invasión drag” had a difficult time not only because it is a documentary, but also because it is LGTBIQ+ themed. I think the difference is that the film deals with a phenomenon that is worldwide; RuPaul Drag’s Race. The reality show has been super awarded, it has a lot of Emmys and it is also a franchise that is based in different countries. I think that’s what has convinced theaters, who may have approached the film very cautiously, but saw large groups of people in airports on film, almost like teen idols in the ’90s or today. , in a more recent phenomenon, with KPOP.

— It is true that drags are a worldwide phenomenon, but I cannot imagine a Ru Paul franchise here in Peru. Not yet, at least.

It’s true. It is complex, because on the one hand we are a super conservative society, but I think that the new generations are a little more open, perhaps because they are more globalized. Perhaps the media are the ones that still refuse to move forward, because they are based on the things that worked and they will always repeat them because they are afraid to try new things.

— Although it is true that there are already Peruvian drags that make their way little by little

Yes. Two appear in the film, Tany de la Riva and Georgia Hart, who have been in various types of programs on cable and broadcast, either as participants or as companions to a cast. In addition, I have to mention that the existence of Chola Chabuca, who is a female character and has a circus to which families go and do not question the fact that she is a man dressed as a woman, seems very paradigmatic to me.

— Do you think that the success of Ru Paul’s drags in Lima adds something to the Peruvian LGTBIQ + community?

I think that the success of drag in this conservative society is due to the fact that the community is still very small or has few places to settle. We have so few spaces to be free, that the furor broke out, and many threw themselves at the drags. They told me that this does not happen in the United States, and surely it is because there it must be more normal to see a drag queen on the street, and perhaps it does not mean much.

— Have you never felt the conservative atmosphere in Lima?

In the same film I ask them if they have felt the conservatism and homophobia of Peru and they tell me no, but of course, they say it from the bubble that the fans have created for them, clearly. In fact, in the film I try to present some situations of violence that they may not have realized, on the one hand, because of the language barrier and on the other, because of the bubble created.

— But it seems to me that the work of Peruvian drags is still not taken seriously, it is seen in an anecdotal or spectacular way.

If true. The art of drags is not sufficiently valued in Peru. They, in addition to putting on their show, make costumes, put on makeup, make a great investment that people do not fully appreciate. Hopefully more of these characters can be seen more and tell their stories. I think that the reduced space they have in the media also has to do with the fact that heterosexual people control media narratives.

— The trailer for “Drag Invasion” has just been released, are there more activities prior to the external?

The trailer was released on June 1, the premiere will be on June 23, and there will be a premiere on June 22. The film premieres in Lima at Cineplanet, Cinépolis and Cinemark. It will premiere the weekend of the march at the Chimú Cinema, in La Libertad, the next one at the Umbral Cinema in Arequipa, and from June 28 it will be at the CCPUCP. I think the attention the movie has gotten is because of Pride month, and that questions me a lot as well. As a member of the community, I know that all brands knock on our door in May; but June passes, July and they all disappear until May of the following year. Hopefully diversity is always a topic of conversation, talking about vulnerable communities, communities that do not have the same rights as everyone, and which, despite that, are forced to fulfill the same obligations as any citizen.

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