Storm in the Andes

Josefin grew up in Sweden, and whenever she asked her family about her Peruvian aunt Augusta, who died in 1988, she always got to hear the same fairytale. But Josefin knows the truth now, although she still has more questions than answers about the woman who together with her husband Abimael Guzmán founded Shining Path, a brutal Maoist guerrilla movement. In order to find out more about both her aunt and the history of her country, Josefin goes against her father’s wishes and travels to Peru. The film builds up gradually with Josefin sharing her thoughts as she visits places and people she hopes will help her find the truth. Emotional encounters are punctuated by archive images of the guerrilla movement and the bloody civil war it started. “I feel like I’m carrying everything my family had tried to hide away,” says Josefin just before she meets Flor, the woman who lost her brother Claudio during the terror campaign and still has no idea what happened to him. Flor’s initial disapproval of Josefin gradually makes way for the realization that they are both struggling with their own personal quests.