Experiencing Interruptions?

HUAQUERO

Amid the landscapes of Ecuador and Peru, 'Huaquero' reconstructs the fragmented memories of ex-looters of pre-Hispanic artifacts, blending documentary and fiction to reveal the tensions between ancestral knowledge, heritage crime, and colonial wounds that persist in these lands.

  • Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez
    Director
    Saudade
  • Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez
    Writer
    Saudade
  • Christian Santiago Rojas España
    Producer
    La Dama Tapada
  • Tommy Parraga
    Key Cast
    Song Without Name
  • Carlos Valencia
    Key Cast
    Ratas, Ratones y Rateros
  • Lady Vinces Cruz
    CoProducer
    Laguna Negra
  • Rodrigo Ruiz Tarazona
    Associate Producer
    Mimosas
  • Juan Daniel Molero
    Editing
    Videofilia
  • Juan Carlos Donoso Gomez
    Editing
  • Camilo Restrepo
    Editing advisor
    Los Conductos
  • Sarah Jessica Rinland
    Script consultant
    those that at a distance resemble another
  • Christian Ñeco
    Sound
    Laguna Negra
  • Dario Crespo
    Director of Photography
  • Nicolas Fernandez
    Sound Design and Mixing
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Huaquero
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature, Other
  • Genres:
    Hybrid Film, Non-fiction
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 21 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    Ecuador, Peru, Romania
  • Country of Filming:
    Ecuador, Peru
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    16 mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:5
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
    AMSTERDAM
    Netherlands
    November 19, 2024
    World Premier
    Envision Competition
Director Biography - Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez

ENG: Graduated in Film at the San Francisco University of Quito (2007), he later completed a Master's degree in Latin American Studies at the University of Amsterdam. After directing several short films, he premiered his debut feature, ‘Saudade’, at the Mostra Internacional do Cinema de Sao Paulo (2013). 'Huaquero' (2024) is his second feature-length documentary, premiered at IDFA.

ESP: Licenciado en Cine por la Universidad San Francisco de Quito (2007), realizó posteriormente un Máster en Estudios Latinoamericanos en la Universidad de Ámsterdam. Tras dirigir varios cortometrajes, estrenó su ópera prima, 'Saudade', en la Mostra Internacional do Cinema de Sao Paulo (2013). 'Huaquero' (2024) es su segundo largometraje documental, estrenado en IDFA.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

'Huaquero' is an obsessive journey to unearth stories about rural archaeological excavators. It is about unveiling the popular science with which the ‘huaqueros’ worked to recover millenary pieces of pre-Columbian cultures and offer them for sale. Excavating, forgery, committing crimes or guiding young archaeologists are the memories collected over years of ethnographies with these characters from the Andean coasts of Ecuador and Peru. Performed by the real protagonists of these memories, ‘Huaquero’ is a reenactment of how they lived in the 80s and 90s, when this activity was at its peak. The film was shot in 16mm, as an allegory to the archaeological archive of those times and previous decades, but also with the intention of reviving the great explorations of early 20th century cinema, now from a decolonial perspective.