The Film
Discovering the truth kills.
A political thriller rooted in disappearance, memory, and the cost of telling the truth.
On the eve of leaving Peru, an American TV correspondent stays behind to investigate the disappearance of two journalists after a massacre in the Andes—following an encrypted videotape into a clandestine war and a hidden power structure willing to kill to keep the truth buried.
Synopsis
Peru, 1989. As the country is being torn apart by insurgency, blackouts, curfews, and state repression, veteran American correspondent Leslie Baxter is preparing to leave Lima after years of war reporting. But when two young journalists from his team disappear while investigating a suspected massacre in the Andean highlands, his departure turns into a final and dangerous search for the truth.
Joined by a former colleague with whom he shares a long and unresolved history, Baxter follows a trail of missing witnesses, hidden evidence, and conflicting accounts stretching from the capital to Ayacucho’s war-scarred interior. What begins as a rescue mission gradually reveals a darker landscape in which terror, propaganda, and official silence converge — and where the cost of exposing the truth may be as lethal as the violence itself.
CURFEW is a political thriller about disappearance, complicity, and the dangerous act of bearing witness.
Historical Frame
Set against the violence and political instability of late-1980s and early-1990s Peru, CURFEW unfolds in a climate shaped by fear, censorship, and contested truth. The film draws on that era’s atmosphere of internal conflict and institutional silence, grounding its story in a world where journalism, memory, and survival are inseparable.
Themes
Truth and Disappearance
At its core, CURFEW is about what vanishes in times of violence—people, evidence, memory, and accountability—and what it costs to pursue what others want erased.
Journalism and Moral Risk
The film follows journalists not as detached observers, but as individuals forced into ethical and personal danger when witnessing becomes a form of resistance.
Memory, Violence, and Power
CURFEW explores how violence persists beyond the event itself: in silence, denial, and the structures that protect impunity. The story asks who controls historical memory, and who pays for challenging it.
Tone & Cinematic Approach
CURFEW is conceived as a character-driven political thriller shaped by tension, psychological pressure, and moral urgency. Rather than relying on spectacle, the film builds through atmosphere, pursuit, and the gradual exposure of buried truths. Its world is intimate but politically charged, with the emotional force of personal risk unfolding inside a larger hidden war.
Project Status
An award-winning feature project advancing through screenplay recognition, industry interest, and active partnership conversations.