Dreaming in Film

Peruvian film director Melina León will share her process of creation – from her short films to her first feature, Canción sin Nombre. She will also discuss her current projects: San Blas, a fiction film about the encounter of two Peruvian children on the verge of discovering their own cultural identities and spirituality; and Lejos del Sol, a documentary about an undocumented Mexican young man who has become one of the most important North American film journalists of his generation. Melina’s films explore the oppressive and mysterious qualities of different cultures through encounters that happen within and between them, and the dreamlike state of the minds of the protagonists that inhabit them.

Melina León's debut feature, Canción sin Nombre (Song without a Name), premiered at Cannes Director’s Fortnight 2019, becoming the first film by a Peruvian female filmmaker to be invited to Cannes. The film was nominated for Best Iberoamerican Feature at the Goya Awards 2022 and was Peru’s Oscar Entry for Best International Feature. Song without a Name has been selected in over 100 international film festivals and has won several awards including Best Director at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Best Film at the Stockholm Film Festival, among others.

Host or Publisher Institute for Ideas & Imagination