Although it might seem like male directors stand at the forefront of Mexican cinema right now — look at recent Oscar winners such as Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Alejandro González Iñárritu — it’s a new wave of female filmmakers who are actually the ones to watch.
Tatiana Huezo (“The Echo”), Fernanda Valadez (“Identifying Features”), and Issa López all shine bright, yet Lila Avilés (“The Chambermaid”) might be the first to come close to Oscar success of her own with “Tótem,” which was shortlisted at this year’s Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. While Avilés’ acclaimed debut followed a maid working to bring structure and order to empty, uninhabited spaces, her follow-up feature is teeming with life, even if the subject matter might not lend itself to that at first glance.
“Tótem” begins with seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes) and her mother, Lucia (Lazua Larios), laughing together in a public bathroom.
Tatiana Huezo (“The Echo”), Fernanda Valadez (“Identifying Features”), and Issa López all shine bright, yet Lila Avilés (“The Chambermaid”) might be the first to come close to Oscar success of her own with “Tótem,” which was shortlisted at this year’s Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. While Avilés’ acclaimed debut followed a maid working to bring structure and order to empty, uninhabited spaces, her follow-up feature is teeming with life, even if the subject matter might not lend itself to that at first glance.
“Tótem” begins with seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes) and her mother, Lucia (Lazua Larios), laughing together in a public bathroom.
- 1/29/2024
- by David Opie
- Indiewire
Totem
A project that would have shot sometime around the summer of ’21, auteur Lila Avilés reteamed with actress Teresa Sanchez and Lazua Larios (from Michel Franco’s Sundown) for her sophomore feature. Supported via Rotterdam Film Fest’s Hubert Bals Funds, Limerencia’s Avilés, Tatiana Graullera and Louise Riousse produced Totem – a tale about a girl who navigates an adult’s world and her relationship with her father. We’re huge fans of this Mexican filmmaker whose social realist essay The Chambermaid – which preemed at TIFF, Donostia-San Sebastián and BFI London preemed.
Gist: 7 year-old Sol spends a day in the family house where a strange and chaotic atmosphere reigns.…...
A project that would have shot sometime around the summer of ’21, auteur Lila Avilés reteamed with actress Teresa Sanchez and Lazua Larios (from Michel Franco’s Sundown) for her sophomore feature. Supported via Rotterdam Film Fest’s Hubert Bals Funds, Limerencia’s Avilés, Tatiana Graullera and Louise Riousse produced Totem – a tale about a girl who navigates an adult’s world and her relationship with her father. We’re huge fans of this Mexican filmmaker whose social realist essay The Chambermaid – which preemed at TIFF, Donostia-San Sebastián and BFI London preemed.
Gist: 7 year-old Sol spends a day in the family house where a strange and chaotic atmosphere reigns.…...
- 1/16/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
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