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 marks the first time a Peruvian documentary has ever competed at the festival. Written and directed by Augusto Zegarra.
This is a beautiful film of a voice artist who sees the need for preserving the Indigenous language (Quechua, also known as Runa Simi) and providing art for the communities, young/elder, to be able to best understand and enjoy the art. This 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 had overwhelming responses from the millions of Quechua speakers hungry for stories in their own language.
Fernando Valencia sets out to dub Disney’s The Lion King (1994) into Quechua, and the filmmaker follows all that the voice artist does to contact Disney to discuss the Indigenous culture and the desire to fulfill the need he identified. He has a homemade studio for his own viral project, plenty of resolve, and determination as he faces rejection, setbacks, and self-doubt. His personal 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 continues the 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; Executive Producers:
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, was one of the winners of the Ministry of Culture of Peru 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 started the research for his first feature-length film Runa Simi, 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
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