Mayra Batalla, Marya Membreño, Ana Cristina Ordóñez González
The fiction feature debut of acclaimed documentarian Tatiana Huezo (Tempestad, The Empty Classroom) and Mexico’s entry for the upcoming Oscars, Prayers for the Stolen tells the story of three girls growing up in communities terrorised by opium cartels, loosely based on Jennifer Clement’s 2014 novel of the same name.
Ana and her two girlfriends, Paula and Maria are growing up. Covertly applying make-up behind their mothers’ backs, they fantasise about their schoolteachers and eventually embark on small flirtations of their own. But in a rural village dominated by the drug trade, where mothers routinely shave their daughters’ heads so they are mistaken for boys by predatory cartel members, the ever-present threat of violence circumscribes their lives completely.
Shot through with an extraordinary visual sensibility and a lyrical eye for beauty amidst horrifying human circumstances, Prayers for the Stolen observes life under the shadow of systemic violence with a clear and sober eye. At once a tender coming of age story and a haunting study of the effects of criminal brutality, Huezo’s film immerses us in a beautiful but blighted land.
