After graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics, Álvaro Velarde won a Ford Foundation scholarship to pursue a master's degree in film in New York. While there, he worked in the film department of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and completed three short films, which later won awards in Lima. His first feature film, "El Destino No Tiene Favoritos" (Destiny Has No Favorites), won more than 10 international awards, including Best Film at the Móstoles Comedy Festival in Spain. The film was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the Cinema du Monde section. In 2004, it represented Peru at the Goya Awards in Spain. The production of his second feature film, "Como quien no quiere la cosa" (As If It Didn't Happen), was made possible by grants received from both the Ibermedia Foundation in Spain and the Ministry of Culture in Peru. This film had its world premiere at the recent Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. Velarde has also worked as a film critic for the magazine "Cosas" and as a teacher at the Cultural Center of the Catholic University.