Salvadoran-Mexican director Tatiana Huezo has won three awards for her debut fiction film Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego at the 69th annual edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. She received the Horizontes Award for Best Latin American Film; the RTVE-Another Look Award; and the Spanish Cooperation Award.
Set in a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, where the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground, Prayers for the Stolen follows Ana and her two best friends who 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.
The Mexican film produced by Jim Stark and Nicolás Celis had its world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section where it won a Special Mention. It will have its U.S. premiere in the official selection of the New York Film Festival this coming week.
The 69th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival took place September 17 - 25.
