Paper Dove (2003)

Set during the terrible Peruvian civil war of the 1980s, PALOMA DE PAPEL (PAPER DOVE) juxtaposes the beautiful landscape of the country with the horrific violence of the conflict. Juan is an adolescent trying to survive in the poverty-ridden Andean countryside while beginning to discover the adult world. But he soon learns about the dark side of that world when a group of paramilitary revolutionaries enters his town and recruits him for their army, which involves a period of soul-crushing political indoctrination. But Juan's desire to survive through the conflict and to live his own life leads him to rebel against the paramilitaries. PALOMA DE PAPEL marks the directorial debut of Peruvian actor Fabrizio Aguilar, and it won the Silver Precolumbian Circle (the second-place prize) at the 2004 Bogota Film Festival.