Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego, the Mexican Oscar entry directed by Tatiana Huezo was announced as winner of the New Generation Prize presented by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, in a tie with the American film Test Pattern by Shatara Michelle Ford. The announcement was made during the voting of the annual Los Angeles Film Critics Awards.
Liberally adapted from Jennifer Clement's eponymous 2014 novel, the debut fiction by acclaimed director Huezo (The Tiniest Place, Tempestad) was the winner of a Special Mention in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Latin American Film Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Prayers for the Stolen is set in a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, where the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground. The film 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.
