Javier Ponce Gambirazio

Javier Ponce Gambirazio, born in 1967, is a Peruvian writer, film director and psychologist whose work focuses on the experiences of LGBTQ characters. As a filmmaker he directed two documentaries about Peruvian historical figures, Lucha Reyes, carta al cielo (2009) and Sarita Colonia, la tregua moral (2016). As an author he published poetry, short stories and novels, among them Cuatro tazas de cafe (1994), Amapola (1999) and El cine malo es mejor (2018). When Peruvian publishers refused his later novels because of their LGBTQ themes, he created his own publishing label, Testigo 13 Ediciones, and released El cine malo es mejor, a commercially successful novel about a supposed low-budget film. His 2019 novel follows people making a film in which the Virgin Mary is played by a famous transvestite.