THE SON OF… THE HOLY TV

SYNOPSIS

Unsure of whether the American Dream is worth pursuing, an eccentric aspiring filmmaker sets out on a journey back to his country, where he decides to explore, with cynicism and humor, the roots of a series of protests against that which Peruvians are calling… “trash TV”; the television that raised him and his entire generation.

Even after watching it, you won’t know if this film is a Comedy, a Drama, a Musical, a Fiction, or a Documentary.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA | PERU

DURATION: 106 MIN

Written, Directed & Edited by JC Gorritti.

“My first work, as a director, is a true independent and auteur film in the full sense of the word, given that it didn’t have any public or private financing”.

Official Poster of the documentary "The Son of... the Holy TV".

FIRST TEASER TRAILER

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

For too long, the media has been the most important member of the typical Latin American family and television has been the central figure, to the point of being treated almost as a deity: “…the Holy TV”.

The biggest parental figure my generation had growing up, was that very television and many of us, kids, aspired to one day become artists of some kind, just like the ones we watched on TV. However, society made sure to stop us from pursuing artistic professions by constantly telling us that artists are destined to starve and only the privileged or the corrupt could access celebrity status. Little did we know, in Latin America everybody struggles to survive.

In telling the generic story of an aspiring artist as if it was my own, I decided to experiment with the documentary genre by having a fictional, although based in real facts, central narrative. The story of the immigrant who legally moves to America to pursue the dream of having an artistic career because his own country rejects him and later has second thoughts about it. That is why I’m calling my first film “The Son of… the Holy TV”.

As a member of a generation that was raised by “…the Holy TV”, I found ironic and hypocritical that the very society who keeps its children away from creative professions, also points fingers at its cultural leaders and accuses them of producing content of “low cultural quality”, whatever that means, and does so in precisely the least creative way possible by calling their work “trash TV”, making violent threats and turning to the streets to protest it.

I found difficult to understand what was so hard about turning off the TV. If they don’t like it, why do they keep watching it? specially in the era of the internet and social media.

Well, as it turns out, the answers I found were a lot more interesting and complicated than I had imagined.

This movie explores the subject in great depth.