The Mexican film Identifying Features / Sin señas particulares, the debut feature by Fernanda Valadez, was the winner of two awards at the 2020 edition of the Sundance Film Festival: the Audience Award and the Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay in the World Cinema Dramatic competition. The Screenplay Award was presented to co-writers Valadez and Astrid Rondero, who also served as producer.
Hailed as “impressive… a confident, accomplished and distinctive feature directorial debut” (Variety), and set in the current humanitarian crisis that has been affecting Mexico for many years now, fomented by the country’s failed war on drug cartels, Identifying Features deals with the disappearances of migrants on their way to the U.S. and the odyssey of those looking for missing family members.
The film tells the story of Magdalena, who sets out on a journey in search of her disappeared son en route to the U.S. border. Traveling through desolate towns and landscapes she meets Miguel, a young man recently deported from the U.S. who is making his way home. The two accompany one another: Magdalena, looking for her son, and Miguel, eager to see his mother again, in a region where victims and aggressors ramble together.
As it was announced during the festival, Identifying Features secured North American distribution by the hand of prestigious arthouse label Kino Lorber with an expected theatrical release this summer. The 2020 edition of the Sundance Film Festival took place January 23 - February 2 in Park City, Utah.
