Our Mothers
César Diaz | Guatemala, Belgium, France | 2019 | 78'
Screenings
Sun 21 March H 22:00
Section
Original title
Nuestras Madres
Synopsis
Guatemala, 2018. The country is riveted to the trial of the military officers who sparked off the civil war. The victims’ testimonials keep pouring in. Ernesto, a young anthropologist at the Forensic Foundation, identifies the remains of those who have gone missing. One day, through an old lady’s story, Ernesto thinks he has found a lead that will allow him to find his father, a guerillero who disappeared during the war. A political and moving gaze on the painful history of the Guatemalan people.
Cast
Armando Espitia, Emma Dib, Aurelia Caal, Julio Serrano Echeverría, Victor Moreira
Films Distribution
Pyramide International
Production
Need Productions, Perspective Film
Editing
César Diaz
Cinematography
Virginie Surdej
Editing
Damien Maestraggi
Language
Spanish
Subtitles
Italian
Premiere
Italian Premiere
Main awards
City of Milan Audience Award (30th FESCAAAL 2021), Caméra d’or / SACD Award (Semaine de la Critique 2019), People’s Choice Award, Crouching Tiger Award and Roberto Rossellini Award (Pingyao International Film Festival 2019), Critics Prize (Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur 2019), Best Film (Santander International Film Festival 2019), Spanish Cooperation Award (San Sebastian Film Festival 2019), Best Film (FICS 2019), Best Cinematography (Ostend Film Festival 2019), Silver Hugo for Best Director (Chicago International Film Festival 2019)
Biography
César Diaz was born in Guatemala in 1978. He studied in Mexico and Belgium and then attended the screenwriting course at FEMIS (École nationale supérieure des métiers de l'image et du son) in Paris. For over ten years he worked as an editor of documentaries and fiction features. He directed two short documentary films: Semillas de cenizas, which was selected in twenty international festivals, and Territorio liberado, which won the IMCINE award in Mexico. Our Mothers is his first feature film.
Filmography
2019 – Our Mothers, ff
2015 – Territorio liberado, sf
2010 – Semillas de cenizas, sf