He met María Reiche, volunteered in Nazca, and brought her story to the cinema: Damien Dorsaz presents “Lady Nazca” in Lima

Swiss filmmaker Damien Dorsaz was just over twenty years old when he met María Reiche during his first trip to Peru in 1996. The German researcher had then been studying and protecting the Nazca Lines for more than half a century, and that encounter with her was an unforgettable event in his life. “I was fortunate to meet her and that meeting marked my life,” he recalls. Three decades later, that impression has ended up becoming Lady Nazca, a feature film starring Devrim Lingnau that, after premiering in various European countries, will be presented on August 9 at the Lima Film Festival.

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In conversation with Luces, Dorsaz recalls that after meeting Reiche, he kept in touch with the association that bears her name and even worked as a volunteer alongside the scientists investigating the geoglyphs. In 2006 he made a documentary built from letters, photographs, and the mathematician’s personal archives. However, upon finishing it, he felt there was another dimension to explore. “It was missing something more intimate: a fiction that would allow the audience to live her story from within and be moved by her journey.”

More than meticulously reconstructing her biography, Lady Nazca seeks to portray the inner journey of a young German woman who leaves her country, arrives in Peru, and finds the meaning of her existence in the desert. The story is set in 1936 and presents Reiche as a mathematics teacher in Lima who, after meeting a French archaeologist, travels to Nazca and discovers the figures that will define her life. “Beyond the scientist, I am moved by that woman who finds her own path in the middle of the desert. The film talks about how we discover the place to which we belong,” says Dorsaz.

To play her, the director chose Devrim Lingnau, known for portraying Isabel of Bavaria in the Netflix series The Empress. He was not looking, he specifies, for an actress who merely reproduced Reiche’s physical appearance, but someone capable of expressing her strength and sensitivity. “Devrim has that ability to open her soul in front of the camera and accompany the viewer on María’s emotional journey,” he maintains.

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The film was shot entirely in Peru, between Lima, Palpa, Nazca, and Ica. To avoid any damage to the heritage, the geoglyphs were recreated in other desert areas. The production also used the Historic Center of Lima and more historic locations to reconstruct the country of the 1930s and 1940s. One of the main difficulties, Dorsaz recalls, was obtaining period vehicles and transporting them to the locations.

Lady Nazca has been acquired for distribution in more than fifteen countries. Dorsaz believes this will allow Europe to discover a woman whose work remains in the shadow of the geoglyphs she helped preserve. “Most people there know the Nazca Lines, but not the story of the woman who dedicated her life to protecting them,” he states. The film also contains its own love story with a country to which he has been returning for almost thirty years. //