Directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén • 2021 • Sweden, Costa Rica
Starring Wendy Chinchilla Araya, Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Daniel Castañeda Rincón
This revelatory first feature from Nathalie Álvarez Mesén is a mesmerizing portrait of a woman in the process of taking ownership of her body and self. In a remote village in Costa Rica, forty-year-old Clara (Wendy Chinchilla Araya in a stunning screen debut) endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the command of her mother (Flor María Vargas Chavez). Her uncanny affinity for creatures large and small allows Clara to find solace in the natural world around her. Tension builds within the family as Clara’s niece (Ana Julia Porras Espinoza) approaches her quinceañera, igniting a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara and inaugurating a journey to free herself from the strictures that have dominated her life.
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Gramercy Stories
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Directed by Rodrigo Reyes • 2020 • Mexico
To reflect on the five-hundred-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, director Rodrigo Reyes offers a bold hybrid-cinema experience exploring the brutal legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico. Through the eyes of a ghostly conquistador...