Jose Zelada

Jose, together with his brothers César and Sergio Zelada, is one of the founders of Tunche Films, a Peruvian company with the aim of telling stories that belong to the local culture. Jose is an international award-winning director: Clio Awards, NY Films Festival and a Lion at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with the documentary SEARCHING FOR HEARTS made for Peruvian Cancer Foundation. He directed the documentary FIRST HANDMADE LOOM PANEL OF THE WORLD. In 2012 he founded the first film school in Peru EPIC (Peruvian School of Film Industry) and today it has become a good reference in the region.

Director’s Statement 
“A giant turtle that carries the Amazon on his back, talking animals that teach the secrets of the rainforest to the amazons, plant spirits and mother trees that heal and gift wisdom to those chosen by the jungle. Curses and demons that protect the land… All of these stars in the stories our mother told us in our childhood. Stories that stayed in my brain throughout the years, feeding my imagination and helping me create magical characters that embarked on adventures in fantastic worlds. Ainbo is the outcome of mixing an infinity of magical tales and the vast admiration for my mother. Our protagonist resembles all of my mother’s traits; the innocence, the magic, the fantasy, she is the daughter of European immigrants, she is the girl born in the Shipibo lands, possessed by the spirit of the jaguar. She is Ainbo.
Nowadays, the Amazon is in great danger. The illegal mining and lumbering have vanished a huge part of the rainforest. This is the sad setting of our story. Ainbo’s world is threatened by the growth of the industries in her land and on her shoulders rests the weight of saving her home and the world. There is no weakness in fragility nor in adversity. If justice prevails; strength can be found. You’ll have to face your own principles more times than you can imagine and even sacrifice love for the greater good.”