Interview with Daniel Rodriguez Risco

Interviewer Ed Farolan

I had the occasion to interview Peruvian filmmaker Daniel Rodriguez Risco whose film El vientre (The Womb), a psychological thriller, was filmed at VIFF 2014. His film opened in Lima in February 2014 and was a commercial success. This film was co-written with his brother Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco and it was awarded the Premio Ibermedia in 2010.

He mentioned that he was given a grant to do a Masters Degree in Cinema at New York University in 1999 but didn't finish his studies because he had to return to Peru to become the Rector of Universidad Privada del Norte.

He wrote a collection of short stories Amor condicional, which was published by Editorial Planeta in 2013. According to him, this is being screened as a TV series in Peru. His next projects include a film about ghosts which is in the early stages of production, and a big budget film, Siete Semillas (Seven Seeds) based on David Fischman's novel El secreto de las siete semillas. He also said that a prequel and sequel to The Womb will be upcoming.

He is a prolific writer. He wrote a short novel Disfraz de Niño, (Peisa,1990), and as mentioned above, a collection of short stories, Amor condicional, (Planeta, 2013). His short films include El colchón, 1998 , Triunfador, 1999, Páramo, 2001,Confianza, 2002, El diente de oro, 2005 and two feature films El Acuarela, 2008 and El vientre, 20013.

With El vientre, Rodriguez has made his mark internationally. This is the first time that a Peruvian filmmaker has come up with a commercially successful film at the international level, and I told him that hopefully, he can come back again to VIFF to show the prequel and sequel to The Womb which I'm sure he will receive accolades not only in Vancouver but all over the world.