Costa Rica’s Dos de Patos has joined Páramo Films as co-producers of Luis Diego Pérez’s “The Beast Is Not to Blame,” which was recently awarded a film residency prize at the Desde El Centro showcase at the Costa Rica Media Market. Panamá’s Expansiva Cine has also boarded the project as a co-developer.
“The Beast Is Not to Blame” is a queer coming-of-age following nine-year-old Iván, an introverted boy eagerly preparing for his First Communion. The moment is suddenly ruined when the boy’s 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, Iván is forced to confront the pain of loss in silence.
Speaking with Variety following pitching the project at the Costa Rica Media Market, Pérez said the film has been “living in my head for years” through a need to “rediscover 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.”
“I 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,” he added. “Images 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’s silences in the face of my difference, and the constant search for a safe space in a world where I often felt I didn’t 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.”
