Athens International Film Festival
aiff

HUESERA

A young couple are expecting their first child. But the initial happiness is overshadowed when the mother-to-be starts having ominous visions full of otherworldly figures. Something between the domestic thriller ‘The Babadook’ and the folklore of ‘La Llorona’, this atmospheric debut brilliantly reinvents the motif of pregnancy as the ultimate symbol of body horror. As the heroine gradually loses herself in her attempt to live up to the oppressive expectations of those around her and her ‘duty’ as a mother, the film turns into a chilling allegory about a woman’s right over her own body. Winner of the Best New Narrative Director award at the Tribeca Film Festival.


MEXICO, PERU | 2022 | COLOR | DCP | 97’ | SPANISH

‘Repulsion’ meets ‘The Exorcist’, with a stop at (a la Guandagnino) ‘Suspiria’. The breathing of the great Polanski, expectedly through ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, falls heavy on this promising debut by Cervera from Mexico. The film deals with a young woman who aches to have a child but it remains to be seen whether she can endure the consequences. The tensions the film depicts are multifaceted and the incisions made surgical: family, sex, religion, supernatural horror, folklore, physical mutation, mix together in the wonderfully spacious drama, serving eerily a Latin American study οn Women and the often unbridgeable distance between chromosome XX and the entirely different unique character. Skilful and haunting. Ι.D.

DIRECTOR: Michelle Garza Cervera
SCREENWRITERS: Abia Castillo, Michelle Garza Cervera
DoP: Nur Rubio Sherwell
MUSIC: Gibrán Androide, Cabeza de Vaca
EDITOR: Adriana Martínez
PRINCIPAL CAST: Natalia Solián, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Batalla, Mercedes Hernández, Aída López, Martha Claudia Moreno

MICHELLE GARZA CERVERA
Mexican director. She studied at Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico and holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, London. Her short films have been chosen at several international festivals while her debut feature film won Best Narrative Debut and ‘Nora Ephron’ Award at Tribeca.

FILMOGRAPHY
2022 Huesera 



        : International Competition

        FALCON LAKE

        FALCON LAKE

        29/09/22, 19:15, DANAOS 1
        01/10/22, 22:00, TRIANON

        ASTRAKAN

        ASTRAKAN

        29/09/22, 22:00, TRIANON
        01/10/22, 19:30, TRIANON

        ENYS MEN

        ENYS MEN

        30/09/22, 19:00, ASTY
        02/10/22, 22:15, ASTY

        1976

        1976

        30/09/22, 22:15, ASTOR
        03/10/22, 20:00, ASTOR

        THE BLUE CAFTAN / LE BLEU DU CAFTAN

        THE BLUE CAFTAN / LE BLEU DU CAFTAN

        02/10/22, 19:30, DANAOS 1
        04/10/22, 21:45, DANAOS 2

        DOS ESTACIONES

        DOS ESTACIONES

        02/10/22, 22:00, TRIANON
        07/10/22, 22:15, DANAOS 2

        THE QUIET GIRL / AN CAILÍN CIÚIN

        THE QUIET GIRL / AN CAILÍN CIÚIN

        03/10/22, 19:30, DANAOS 1
        05/10/22, 19:30, TRIANON

        AFTERSUN

        AFTERSUN

        03/10/22, 22:15, ASTOR
        07/10/22, 22:30, ASTOR

        RETURN TO SEOUL

        RETURN TO SEOUL

        04/10/22, 21:45, ASTOR
        06/10/22, 19:30, ASTOR

        JOYLAND

        JOYLAND

        04/10/22, 22:00, IDEAL
        06/10/22, 21:30, TRIANON

        PAMFIR

        PAMFIR

        05/10/22, 19:30, DANAOS 1
        07/10/22, 19:30, ASTY

        AWARD-WINNING FILM SCREENING

        AWARD-WINNING FILM SCREENING

        09/10/22, 22:00, DANAOS 1