I met Emilio during his final years at Alpamayo. He was a creative and persevering student with a perceptive personality, much like Santiago, the protagonist of the upcoming film  Hasta la Cumbre. Before graduating from high school in 2020, Emilio earned two scholarships that allowed him to study at Full Sail University in the heart of Orlando, USA.

This university, famous for its practical approach, provided him with a film education closely linked to the Hollywood industry. Not surprisingly, its graduates frequently appear in the credits of major productions, having contributed to Oscar-nominated and winning films. This hands-on preparation, guided by teachers with experience in franchises like Star Wars and Marvel, helped Emilio dream big.

Full Sail proved to be the ideal platform:  “Cinematography—painting with light—was a much bigger technical and artistic challenge than I expected; it required a lot of study and intense work to bring great creative ideas to the big screen… but the result was worth it,” Emilio recalls. His time in the United States didn’t make him forget Peru; on the contrary, it motivated him to return with new tools to contribute to national cinema.

When the director of Alpamayo School, Renzo Forlín, learned that Emilio was returning to Lima, he told him:  “Buy a camera, and we’ll be waiting for you at Alpamayo with everything you need for a film studio.” And so it was. With Emilio came the film camera, lenses, lights, projectors, computers, cables… The school set up a classroom with windows and insulated curtains to keep out any audio or light during filming.

The first call for applications was a huge challenge: only a couple of students showed up at the new (and perhaps intimidating) “film studio.” But word soon spread: it was real, professional cinema, with pioneering technology in Latin America, and it didn’t take long for everyone to become familiar with it.

Emilio, just 22 years old, looks so young that during a visit to the school by an influencer, after listening to his explanations, she asked to speak to the teacher in charge. Emilio, smiling, replied:  “I’m the teacher.” This closeness to the students, typical of someone who had also been part of Alpamayo, turned the workshop into an epic adventure.

The creative proposal was a challenging question:  “How far would you go to help a friend?” From there, Up to the Summit was born, the story of Santiago, a strong-willed yet noble fourth-grader, who faces off against Guido, an enigmatic classmate. What begins as a school prank escalates into a journey to the snowy peak of Alpamayo with his brother Mateo. They will face not only the cold and the altitude, but also the inner challenges that reveal that the most difficult summit is not always in the Andes, but in their own hearts.

The production produced over 5TB of footage, resulting in more than 800 edited, composed, and graded videos. These videos were shot both in the school’s studio and outdoors in Yungay, Huaraz, thanks to the support of the NGO Operación Mato Grosso and the Proyecta Perú  association. Transporting the students, cameras, drones, and lights to over 4,000 meters above sea level was a huge logistical challenge, but one that was overcome thanks to the enthusiasm of parents, teachers, and students.

The experience left a deeper mark than just the technical:  “I realized that together we can achieve incredible things,” commented one student. The film transcended its plot: it wasn’t just about reaching a geographical peak, but about implementing cinema as a means of character development through the cultivation of virtues, thus elevating education to a level where art, work, study, and faith are intertwined.

At Alpamayo, none of this is a coincidence. Since its founding in the 1970s, the school has been inspired by the teachings of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, who visited Lima in 1974 and encouraged the promotion of a comprehensive education, where academic excellence is combined with spiritual formation.  “A country is what its families are,” he said at the time, promoting a model where parents and teachers become allies to bring out the best in each student.

Today, with the premiere of Hasta la Cumbre at Cinemark Jockey Plaza  (with a red carpet and screenings open to the public), Alpamayo is writing a new page in Peruvian education. It is the first school in the country to produce a feature film of this caliber, and marks the beginning of a permanent school film studio.

“Today it’s Alpamayo; tomorrow it could be many schools making quality films,” says Emilio, convinced that young people, when entrusted with a great mission, are capable of conquering any summit.

Guillermo Mayuri