Mexican director Tatiana Huezo received a Special Mention in the Un Certain Regard competition at the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival for her debut fiction film Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego. The Mexican film premiered this week at the French film festival and was received with a ten minute standing ovation and strong critical acclaim.
Liberally adapted from Jennifer Clement’s eponymous 2014 novel, Prayers for the Stolen in set in a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, where the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground. Ana and her two best friends take over the houses of those who have fled and dress up as women when no one is watching. In their own impenetrable universe, magic and joy abound; meanwhile, their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. But one day, one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time.
Additionally, the Mexican co-production film La Civil by Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai starring Arcelia Ramírez, was awarded the Prize for Courage in the same competition. Led by British director and screenwriter Andrea Arnold, the Un Certain Regard jury was made up of the director and screenwriter Mounia Meddour, the actress Elsa Zylberstein, and directors Daniel Burman and Michael Covino.
