Runa Simi, the debut documentary feature by Peruvian filmmaker Augusto Zegarra, had its world premiere in the Documentary Competition at the 24th annual Tribeca Film Festival, currently running through June 15 in New York City. This year marks the first time a Peruvian documentary has ever been selected to compete at the festival.
Written and directed by Augusto Zegarra. Runa Simi is a beautiful film about a voice artist who recognizes the need to preserve the Indigenous language (Quechua, also known as Runa Simi) and create art that allows communities, both young and old, to understand better and appreciate it. This documentary is the story of Fernando Valencia, a 29-year-old voice artist from Cusco in the Peruvian Andes, who is an Indigenous activist, painter, and devoted single father to Dylan, his eight-year-old son. Known for his uncanny ability to voice multiple characters, Fernando launched Quechua Clips—a viral project that reimagines iconic animated scenes in Quechua, the ancestral language of the Incas. He has received overwhelming responses from the millions of Quechua speakers, who are hungry for stories in their language.
Fernando Valencia sets out to dub Disney’s The Lion King (1994) into Quechua, and the filmmaker follows the voice artist’s efforts to contact Disney to discuss the Indigenous culture and fulfill the need he has identified. He has a homemade studio for his viral project and plenty of resolve and determination as he faces rejection, setbacks, and self-doubt. His mission becomes a powerful call for language justice and cultural reclamation.
The film will have its Latin American premiere in the Ibero-American Documentary competition at the 40th Guadalajara Film Festival (screening June 11) in Mexico. The film will continue its festival circuit with its European premiere in the Youth Jury Award competition at the 32nd Sheffield DocFest (June 18–23) in the UK.
Executive produced by Benjamin and Peter Bratt, Ellen Schneider, and Alpita Patel.
Producers: Claudia Chávez Lévano and Paloma Iturriaga;
Director of Photography: Renzo Rivas; Editor: Carlos Rojas Felice; Sound: Gustavo Barrionuevo; Composer: Pauchi Sasaki.
About the Director: Augusto Zegarra is a Peruvian filmmaker based in Lima with a BFA in Film and Media Arts from the University of Utah. His first short film, Wiñaymanta, won the Ministry of Culture of Peru’s National Prize in 2014. With a deep passion for storytelling, he uses film as a tool to explore identity, language, and memory.
In 2017, he began researching his first feature-length film, Runa Simi, which was later produced with support from the Ministry of Culture of Peru, the Sundance Institute, the Embassy of Switzerland in Peru, Cinélatino of Rencontres Toulouse, and Storyboard Collective. Runa Simi has participated in the IDFA Forum (Rough Cut), GLAFF WIP, DocsBarcelona, ChileConecta, ARCA Residency in Cabo de Hornos, and FIFDH Impact Lab.
Runa Simi- Peru, 2025, 81 min. In Spanish, Quechua, and English with English subtitles.
Source: Production Company- Alaska 88