Cartographies of the Detour
-Gonzalo Benavente Secco, from the Global South- What does it mean to imagine from the margins? *Cartographies of the Detour* is a series of brief but meaningful interviews that seek to balance critical depth with humanity, from a perspective rooted in the Global South and for the Global South. In this conversation with Gonzalo Benavente Secco, we explore what it means to create when technology promises to automate it all
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Gonzalo Benavente Secco
Sobre Gonzalo
Writer and director of film, theater, and television. Director of Autocinema, the production company that redefined the political documentary in Peru. His film *La revolución y la tierra* (2019) was the most-watched documentary in the history of Peruvian cinema. But this was no accident; Gonzalo has worked in communities across Peru and South America—a region that left a lasting impression on him—and there he learned that telling stories from the Global South means renouncing the comfort of hegemonic discourse. He is currently working on *El arte de la guerra*, which received funding from the Ministry of Culture and won awards at MAFIZ (Málaga) and Chile Conecta. In television, he served as head writer for *Aprendo en casa* during the pandemic and directed *Historias de papel* (Plus TV), adapting literary classics for the small screen. He holds a Master’s degree in Hispanic American Literature from PUCP; for three years, he headed communications at TECHO – Peru, and since 2021, he has been a member of the selection committee for the Lima Film Festival. What matters about his work is not how many screens it occupies, but that cinema remains, for him, an act of creative defiance. In April 2026, his first novel, *Ítaca*, will be published by Los Olvidos.
