{ "id": "ep640mnczx", "slug": "madeinusa", "title": "Madeinusa", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films", "label": "Biographical and historical drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "label": "Released 2006 to 2009", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.latam", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Madeinusa (2006) is Claudia Llosa's debut feature, a Peru-Spain drama set in an Andean village where sin is suspended during Holy Time; starring Magaly Solier, it won FIPRESCI at Rotterdam.", "snippet": "Madeinusa (2006) is Claudia Llosa's debut feature, a Peru-Spain drama set in an Andean village where sin is suspended during Holy Time; starring Magaly Solier, it won FIPRESCI at Rotterdam.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "markdown": "# Madeinusa\n\n**Madeinusa** is a 2006 drama film and the feature debut of Peruvian writer-director Claudia Llosa, set in an isolated Andean village where, during the festival of *tiempo santo*, the villagers believe that [God is dead](https://www.edgepedia.org/god-is-dead) between [Good Friday](https://www.edgepedia.org/good-friday) and Easter Sunday and that sin therefore does not exist. The film takes its title from its protagonist, a 14-year-old girl chosen as the festival's Holy Virgin whose encounter with a stranded visitor from Lima changes her fate.[1](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/8/2462-madeinusa) • [2](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Claudia Llosa, her first feature film[3](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/madeinusa/madeinusa_presskit.pdf) |\n| Production | Peru, Spain co-production; 100 minutes; 35 mm; Spanish and Quechua[2](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa) • [4](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/512d07281c7d76e0460029ba-madeinusa) |\n| Principal cast | Magaly Solier (Madeinusa), Carlos Juan de la Torre (Salvador), Yiliana Chong (Chale), Juan Ubaldo Huamán (Cayo), Melvin Quijada (Mauro)[5](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/09/25/madeinusa-2006-2/) |\n| Setting | Manayaycuna, a fictional remote village in the Peruvian Andes, at the Cordillera Blanca[6](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/madeinusa-film-review-by-chris) • [1](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/8/2462-madeinusa) |\n| Key premise | From Good Friday at three in the afternoon, when Christ died, to Easter Sunday, sin is suspended because God is dead and cannot see what happens[1](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/8/2462-madeinusa) |\n| Major honors | FIPRESCI prize at Rotterdam 2006; best film, Territorio Latinoamericano section, Festival de Málaga 2006; Sundance competition selection[7](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/03/25/madeinusa-gana-en-el-festival-de-malaga/) |\n| Releases | Peruvian commercial release August 14, 2006; German theatrical release November 9, 2006[5](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/09/25/madeinusa-2006-2/) • [8](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/world_cinema_fund/wcf_booklet_2022_web.pdf) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nMadeinusa lives with her sister Chale and her father Don Cayo, the village mayor, in Manayaycuna, a village so closed to outsiders that its name is glossed as \"the town no-one can enter\".[2](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa) • [6](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/madeinusa-film-review-by-chris) The mother has long since left for Lima, leaving behind a chest of costume jewelry and trinkets that feed Madeinusa's dreams of the city.[4](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/512d07281c7d76e0460029ba-madeinusa)\n\nThe village year centers on the *tiempo santo*. Each year a young girl is chosen as Holy Virgin; she passes in procession through the village, takes the statue of Jesus from the cross, and covers his eyes. Immediately afterward a carnivalesque feast begins in which people do everything God has forbidden, because while God is dead he cannot see their sins.[2](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa) This year Madeinusa is chosen. Her father, who regularly comes home drunk and gets into bed between his daughters, plans to take her virginity during the holy days, when the act would not count as a sin; until now she has kept him off because she wants to stay a virgin.[2](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa) • [9](https://fipresci.org/report/in-the-name-of-the-father-by-neil-young/)\n\nSalvador, a young geologist traveling from Lima to a mine job, is stranded when a flooded road stops his bus, and the villagers jail him so that he cannot interfere with the festivities; the mayor eventually lodges him in the family barn.[6](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/madeinusa-film-review-by-chris) • [8](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/world_cinema_fund/wcf_booklet_2022_web.pdf) Madeinusa is drawn to him and asks him to take her away from the village.[5](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/09/25/madeinusa-2006-2/) The film's resolution is deliberately ambiguous and turns on an unexpected plot twist that, in the view of the FIPRESCI critic [Neil Young](https://www.edgepedia.org/neil-young), puts the whole tale in a different light and shows an acquaintance with film noir.[9](https://fipresci.org/report/in-the-name-of-the-father-by-neil-young/)\n\n## Production\n\nClaudia Llosa, born in Lima in 1976, wrote the script while living in Spain, finishing it in Barcelona, and sent it unsolicited to the Havana Film Festival, where it won the prize for best original screenplay along with 150,000 euros toward production.[3](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/madeinusa/madeinusa_presskit.pdf) • [10](https://filmint.nu/diva-directors-around-the-globe-spotlight-on-claudia-llosa/) The project was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in Los Angeles.[3](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/madeinusa/madeinusa_presskit.pdf) Her producer José María Morales insisted that she direct the film herself, although she had never before been on a film set.[10](https://filmint.nu/diva-directors-around-the-globe-spotlight-on-claudia-llosa/) • [11](https://www.academiadecine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/revista_academia_cine_157.pdf)\n\nThe film was shot entirely in the village of Canrey Chico in the Ancash region of the Peruvian Andes, using the local Quechua population as performers. No direct payments were made; the crew bartered goods the villagers needed, from pots and pans to food and medication, in exchange for the location and their participation. Llosa premiered the film in a church courtyard in Canrey Chico, where villagers received it with jubilation.[12](https://rhiansfilmstudies.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/madeinusa/) None of the actors were professionals: Llosa discovered Magaly Solier selling sweets on the steps of a church in the town of Huanta.[13](https://elpais.com/diario/2006/01/06/cine/1136502015_850215.html)\n\nThe World Cinema Fund supported the film with 10,000 euros in August 2006.[8](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/world_cinema_fund/wcf_booklet_2022_web.pdf) Producers included Wanda Visión S.A. and Oberon Cinematográfica, with backing from Canal+, TVE, and Televisió de Catalunya.[14](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/132297/)\n\n## Reception\n\nMadeinusa premiered in Europe at the 2006 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it competed in the Tiger Awards competition and won the FIPRESCI international critics' prize.[2](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa) • [7](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/03/25/madeinusa-gana-en-el-festival-de-malaga/) It screened in competition at Sundance 2006, won awards at [Mar del Plata](https://www.edgepedia.org/mar-del-plata), and took best film in the Territorio Latinoamericano section of the Festival de Málaga in March 2006.[7](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/03/25/madeinusa-gana-en-el-festival-de-malaga/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 83% Tomatometer score from six reviews and a 72% audience score.[15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1176692-madeinusa)\n\nCritics read the film as a fable of the collision between old and new. Jeff Shannon of the *Seattle Times* called a familiar clash \"rendered fresh and alive, with an edge of menace\", while David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews found it well directed but dull.[15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1176692-madeinusa) Neil Young praised Magaly Solier's performance as the enigmatic Madeinusa, a combination of femme fatale, victim, and virgin saint, and highlighted the cinematography of Raúl Pérez Ureta.[9](https://fipresci.org/report/in-the-name-of-the-father-by-neil-young/) Scholarly work has noted that the film, together with Llosa's second feature *La teta asustada* (2009), sparked controversy and critical debate for its portrayals of Quechua culture in Peru.[16](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1386/trac.4.2.197_1)\n\n## Place in Llosa's career\n\nMadeinusa established Llosa, whom *Variety* described as one of Latin America's fastest-rising director-writers, as a leading name in the renewal of contemporary Peruvian cinema.[10](https://filmint.nu/diva-directors-around-the-globe-spotlight-on-claudia-llosa/) • [17](https://www.latamcinema.com/entrevistas/claudia-llosa-directora-de-la-teta-asustada-2/) Her second feature, *La teta asustada* ([The Milk of Sorrow](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-milk-of-sorrow), 2009), won the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear) in Berlin and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[18](https://fashionfilmfestivalmilano.com/claudia-llosa/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Madeinusa, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/8/2462-madeinusa)\n2. [Madeinusa, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2006](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2006/films/madeinusa)\n3. [Madeinusa press kit, Film Movement](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/madeinusa/madeinusa_presskit.pdf)\n4. [Madeinusa, 2006 Tribeca Festival](https://tribecafilm.com/festival/archive/512d07281c7d76e0460029ba-madeinusa)\n5. [Madeinusa (2006), Cinencuentro](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/09/25/madeinusa-2006-2/)\n6. [Madeinusa (2005) film review, Eye For Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/madeinusa-film-review-by-chris)\n7. [Madeinusa gana en el Festival de Málaga, Cinencuentro](https://www.cinencuentro.com/2006/03/25/madeinusa-gana-en-el-festival-de-malaga/)\n8. [World Cinema Fund booklet, Kulturstiftung des Bundes](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/world_cinema_fund/wcf_booklet_2022_web.pdf)\n9. [In The Name of the Father, by Neil Young, FIPRESCI](https://fipresci.org/report/in-the-name-of-the-father-by-neil-young/)\n10. [Directors Around the Globe: Spotlight on Claudia Llosa, Film International](https://filmint.nu/diva-directors-around-the-globe-spotlight-on-claudia-llosa/)\n11. [Claudia Llosa: \"Me inventé sobre la marcha\", Academia de Cine](https://www.academiadecine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/revista_academia_cine_157.pdf)\n12. [Madeinusa, Film Studies: Contemporary World Cinema](https://rhiansfilmstudies.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/madeinusa/)\n13. [Claudia Llosa retrata la belleza del Perú ritual, El País](https://elpais.com/diario/2006/01/06/cine/1136502015_850215.html)\n14. [Madeinusa, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/132297/)\n15. [Madeinusa, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1176692-madeinusa)\n16. [New configurations for Peruvian cinema: The rising star of Claudia Llosa, Transnational Cinemas](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1386/trac.4.2.197_1)\n17. [Claudia Llosa, directora de \"La teta asustada\", LatAm cinema](https://www.latamcinema.com/entrevistas/claudia-llosa-directora-de-la-teta-asustada-2/)\n18. [Claudia Llosa, Fashion Film Festival Milano](https://fashionfilmfestivalmilano.com/claudia-llosa/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Madeinusa\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Madeinusa](https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa](https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Madeinusa\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/madeinusa. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Madeinusa is Claudia Llosa's debut feature, a Peru-Spain drama set in an Andean village where sin is suspended during Holy Time; starring Magaly Solier, it won FIPRESCI at Rotterdam." }