{"id":816964,"date":"2026-07-22T17:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/816964\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T17:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:12:09","slug":"dos-de-patos-expansiva-cine-board-the-beast-is-not-to-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/816964\/","title":{"rendered":"Dos de Patos, Expansiva Cine Board ‘The Beast Is Not to Blame’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCosta Rica\u2019s Dos de Patos has joined P\u00e1ramo Films as co-producers of Luis Diego P\u00e9rez\u2019s \u201cThe Beast Is Not to Blame,\u201d which was recently awarded a film residency prize at the Desde El Centro showcase at the Costa Rica Media Market<\/a>. Panam\u00e1\u2019s Expansiva Cine has also boarded the project as a co-developer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Beast Is Not to Blame\u201d is a queer coming-of-age following nine-year-old Iv\u00e1n, an introverted boy eagerly preparing for his First Communion. The moment is suddenly ruined when the boy\u2019s best friend, with whom he secretly shared a bond that transcended friendship through magical moments in the Costa Rican forest, suddenly moves away. Unable to confide in others as to the nature of their relationship, Iv\u00e1n is forced to confront the pain of loss in silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking with Variety following pitching the project at the Costa Rica Media Market, P\u00e9rez said the film has been \u201cliving in my head for years\u201d through a need to \u201crediscover my childhood as a queer boy, to make sense of the gaps in my memory, and to give shape to experiences that have remained blurred over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI began writing from memories shaped by fear, doubt, and guilt, but also by joy, wonder, and the fascination of growing up as a Latino boy,\u201d he added. \u201cImages began to flood my mind: everyday life with my family, the sense of magic that religion inspired in me, the excitement of wearing my First Communion suit and feeling seen during the ceremony, the delicate and often blurred line between friendship and romance among boys, my family\u2019s silences in the face of my difference, and the constant search for a safe space in a world where I often felt I didn\u2019t belong. Despite it all, I was a boy who searched for magic in the smallest everyday moments, and that sense of wonder gradually helped me discover how I wanted this film to feel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about his inspirations for the film, particularly given the success of recent Latin queer coming-of-age stories such as Allan Deberton\u2019s \u201cGugu\u2019s World,\u201d P\u00e9rez said he is inspired by the \u201csensitivity and humanity\u201d of Chloe Zhao\u2019s films, as well as Carla Sim\u00f3n\u2019s \u201cdelicate and authentic depictions of childhood and its sense of wonder.\u201d \u201cDrawing from these influences, I aspire to create an atmospheric, immersive, and reflective film, one that embraces suggestion over explanation and reconnects with the magic a child can find in both nature and faith.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLuis Diego P\u00e9rez pitching at the Costa Rica Media Market, courtesy of Luis Diego P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n

\n\tP\u00e9rez emphasized there is a \u201cgrowing visibility of queer voices in Costa Rica,\u201d seen through stories that are \u201cdiverse, daring, genre-defying, and formally innovative.\u201d The director notes how excited he is about upcoming Costa Rican queer films such as \u201cLost Men\u201d by Andr\u00e9s Madrigal, having its world premiere at the upcoming Costa Rica Film Festival, and Federico Montero\u2019s \u201cMen Die Sooner,\u201d films P\u00e9rez believes \u201coffer a fresh and distinctive perspective on what it means to live as a gay man in Costa Rica.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDos de Patos\u2019s producer Paula V\u00e1zquez said she has known P\u00e9rez \u201cfor a while now\u201d and believes \u201cin the film he wants to create.\u201d \u201cI feel like this movie offers a refreshing point of view to Costa Rican cinema at this moment in time,\u201d she adds. \u201cThe story is the perfect mix of magic, tenderness and also raw honesty about how lonely it can feel growing up feeling different in a religious Latin American household. It was a no-brainer bringing in Dos de Patos in order to give the film more structure and help make the movie Luis Diego has imagined.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m moved by the sensitivity with which this story is told,\u201d echoed Isabella G\u00e1lvez from Expansiva Cine. \u201cSupporting it from Panama feels like a meaningful way to help create space for queer childhood stories, which are still rarely represented in our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCommenting on the importance of working on Latin American co-production and strengthening the cultural and geographical ties in the region, V\u00e1zquez says that, to make a film that remains \u201cfaithful to its roots,\u201d \u201cthe project must be accompanied by producers and crew members who truly understand that reality and are committed to bringing it to the screen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLuis Diego and I also share the belief that films inspired by our region should reach audiences across Latin America,\u201d she noted. \u201cIt is important to us that the people who inspired this story have the opportunity to see it, connect with it, and be moved by it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Costa Rica\u2019s Dos de Patos has joined P\u00e1ramo Films as co-producers of Luis Diego P\u00e9rez\u2019s \u201cThe Beast Is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,392215,134,344],"class_list":["post-816964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-costa-rica-media-market","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}