Red Ink

Francisco J. Lombardi's 2000 Peruvian film follows Alfonso, a young man who wants to be a writer. He decides to work as a journalist first and is assigned to a newspaper's crime desk; his job is to write about killings. The subject is how news is produced. Alfonso's editor teaches him to make events more striking; changing details, arranging the photograph and exaggerating the headline are presented as part of the trade. The narrative shows this not as a moment of corruption but as a training. It is adapted from Alberto Fuguet's novel. Gianfranco Brero plays the editor and the character is the film's centre. Lombardi keeps Peru's social conditions in the background; the abundance of violent stories follows from them. Who it's for: those who like Latin American cinema and dramas about journalism. Who it's not for: viewers uncomfortable with images from crime scenes; the film shows them directly.