Our Mothers (Nuestras Madres)

A scene of the main character Ernesto meeting one of the mothers

Screenings

2020 Season
London

Winner of the Caméra d'Or (Cannes Film Festival, 2019) this beautifully rendered drama weaves a tale taking us from the dark past to a personal search for the truth. Set in 2018 Guatemala, we meet Ernesto, a young forensic anthropologist tasked with identifying missing victims of the country’s 36-year civil war. As witnesses of the genocide of over 200,000 indigenous people, the Mayan women of Guatemala act as a bridge between the past and present through their memories and become essential voices in the fight for justice in a country struggling with how to provide accountability. While documenting the account of an elder Mayan woman searching for the remains of her husband, Ernesto believes he might have found a lead that will guide him to his own father, a guerrillero who went missing during the war.

Winner Caméra d'Or for Best debut feature, Cannes Film Festival 2019

 UK Advisory (15)

Filmmaker(s): 
César Diaz
Country of Production: 
Belgium/ Guatemala
Year: 
2019
77m
Language(s): 
Spanish, Fully subtitled in English
Genre: 
Drama
Filmmaker Bio(s): 
César Diaz
Director

César Diaz was born in Guatemala in 1978. After studying in Mexico and Belgium, he joined the screenwriting course at La FEMIS in Paris. He has been editing fiction and documentaries for over ten years. He also directed the Semillas de Cenizas short documentaries, screened at two dozens international film festivals, as well as Territory Liberado, which won the IMCINE award in Mexico. Nuestras Madres, his first narrative feature, is selected at the 58th Semaine de la Critique.

Distributor: 
Peccadillo Pictures
Film Website: 
Film website

“An elegant and moving portrayal of the families of victims of the ‘dirty war’ finding closure after being denied it for so many years.”

-          Daniel Wilkinson, Director, Environment and Human Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

To learn more on this topic visit HRW.org