Anthology Film Archives has announced the New York theatrical premiere run of the award-winning Mexican documentary film The Naked Room / El cuarto desnudo (pictured) by Spanish-born director Nuria Ibáñez. The film, which was the winner of the Best Documentary award at the Morelia Film Festival, is distributed in the U.S. by Magic Lantern Films. Hailed by Variety as "a haunting exploration of mental illness in children," The Naked Room opens Friday, August 29th.
Among the most immensely powerful, exquisitely sensitive, and formally inspired documentary films in recent memory, The Naked Room takes place entirely within the confines of a pediatric therapist’s office in a Mexico City hospital, observing the initial consultations of a succession of deeply troubled kids, and brilliantly transforming this constricted space into a microcosm vast in its metaphorical dimensions.
Through the children’s expressions and gestures, The Naked Room paints a vivid picture of a society that inflicts its resentments and frustrations, its insecurities and sense of powerlessness, on those who are entirely unequipped to defend themselves, who have just begun the delicate process of understanding their world and forming their own identities. Shattering yet somehow resisting despair, thanks to the children’s reed-like resilience and astonishing honesty, The Naked Room is a landmark of contemporary documentary filmmaking.
Watch the trailer:
