Bolivia’s Alvaro Olmos Torrico, known for his award-winning “The Condor Daughter,” is prepping his third feature, “Chicha Fantasy” (“Fantasía Chicha”), tapping Peru’s Ayara Prods. to co-produce alongside his Bolivia-based Empatia Cinema. He’s also in co-production talks with Uruguayan and European companies.
“The Condor Daughter” recently competed at the Alternativa Film Festival in Medellín, Colombia where lead actress Marisol Vallejos represented the pic. It follows Clara (Vallejos), a teen Quechua midwife who leaves her remote community to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.
Inspired by real events, “Chicha Fantasy” revolves around 15-year-old Mirelli, a Quechua shepherd girl, who aspires to follow in her sister Martina’s footsteps who sings in the band Fantasia Chicha, which travels across the Andean communities with music that combines cumbia and other folkloric genres with electronic music. But when Mirelli finds her sister dead under strange circumstances, she refuses to accept the official version and joins the band to unearth the truth, endangering her life in the process.
The term chicha refers to a style of cumbia, a popular Colombian music genre, that was adapted and transformed in Peru in the 1960s and ’70s, incorporating electric guitars, synthesizers, and elements of rock. This fusion creates a distinctive, energetic sound that has become deeply rooted in the Bolivian cultural scene, especially in urban areas.
“Personally, I have grown up with a passion for and a strong commitment to the ‘chicha world’ that has surrounded my life: the music, the celebration and the interpretation of the contemporary, the blending of past and present within certain environments and cultures are themes that deeply engage me,” said Olmos Torrico, adding: “This is also reflected in my recent film ‘The Condor Daughter.’ I do not seek to romanticize the ‘chicha world’ but rather to explore it intimately, to portray its desires and contradictions.”
According to Olmos Torrico, the project has participated in the BAL-LAB laboratory of the Biarritz Latin American Film Festival, where it received an award for the translation of the screenplay into French, as well as financial support from Assistance Audiovisuelle (France) in the form of cinematic equipment services. It also just participated in Cinema in Developmentin Cinelatino Toulouse 2026.
Olmos Torrico, Iris Ocampo, Diego Sarmiento and Cecilia Sueiro serve as producers.
“Chicha Fantasy” aligns with the kind of projects that Olmos Torrico’s Empatia Cinema has focused on, films with an Indigenous perspective and a reconnection with native languages, mainly Quechua and Aymara. Its projects propose a dialogue between the modern world and traditional culture through innovative and honest approaches by local filmmakers.
Among the most notable projects in its filmography are “San Antonio” by Olmos Torrico (a documentary, Bafici 2011), “The Visitor” by Martín Boulocq (winner of a screenplay award at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival), “The Ones from Below” by Alejandro Quiroga (best performance at Mar del Plata 2022), “The Condor Daughter,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2025 and scored best film at last year’s Biarritz América Latina 2025, and “Diamante” by Yashira Jordán, currently in post-production.
‘The Condor Daughter’