Negotiated narratives: Peruvian Andean filmmakers navigating artistic autonomy amidst Ministry of Culture grants

In a context where a film grant scheme implemented by the Ministry of Culture of Peru operates within a hierarchical structure of society that deems Andeanness as inferior, Andean filmmakers navigate a specific framework that is shaped by certain conditions. This research explores how Andean filmmakers use their autonomy within the film grant scheme, and examines the interplay between cultural policy, filmmakers’ artistic autonomy and the social dynamics that may shape the process of filmmaking and films made by Andean filmmakers. Using a qualitative approach, interviews with a sample of Andean filmmakers who received funding from the grant scheme between 2012 and 2023 were analyzed. Thus, it is argued that Andean filmmakers engage in different forms of negotiation of their autonomy, with different degrees of freedom in how they exercise it. Through these negotiations, filmmakers challenge dominant societal narratives about the Andes, try to subvert the perceived expectation on what Andean filmmakers should represent in their films and balance specific policy’s conditionalities with their own visions.