Valentina or the Serenity
Indigenous Mexican filmmaker Ángeles Cruz (SIFF 2021’s Nudo Mixteco) explores our complex relationship with loss through the eyes of a young Mixtecan girl who, in her heart, refuses to believe her recently deceased father has truly left this earthly realm.
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Friday, May 17, 2024
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- Matinee
Saturday, May 18, 2024
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- Matinee
Monday, May 20 - Monday, May 27, 2024
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- Matinee
Valentina, a seven-year-old Mixtec girl, has learned that her father died in a river accident. She does not understand the full meaning of this news, and determined to keep her father’s presence alive, she will turn to the magic of her imagination to confront her grief and soften the pain of his absence. Pedro, her best friend, along with her mother, will carry Valentina forward on her path towards an unexpected maturity and the understanding of death as a vital part of life. Director Ángeles Cruz (Nudo Mixteco, SIFF 2021) forges a touching tale about the power of transformation that comes from experiencing loss, pain, and grief. Cruz delves into the heart of her community and traditions. Mixtec becomes her love language: Valentina, charmingly played by Danae Ahua Aparicio, will find comfort in the permanence of the words that she was not interested in learning while her father was alive but they have become the balm that soothes her sorrow. With the love of her community, her mom’s own mourning journey (an award-winning performance by Myriam Bravo) and the vitality of friendship, embodied by Pedro (Alexander Gadiel Mendoza Sanchéz), Valentina will find the strength to cross the most essential threshold of all and start the journey of leaving her childhood behind forever.
- Original Language Title: Valentina o la serenidad
- Director: Ángeles Cruz (Ñuu savi)
- Principal Cast: Danae Ahuja Aparicio, Myriam Bravo, Alexander Gadiel Mendoza Sanchéz
- Country: Mexico
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 85 min.
- Producer: Ángeles Cruz, Isis Ahumada, Myriam Bravo
- Screenplay: Ángeles Cruz
- Cinematographers: Carlos Correa
- Editors: Felipe Gómez
- Music: Alejandra Hernandez, Ruben Luengas
- Awards: Huelva Film Festival 2022 (Golden Colón, Best Film)
- Filmography: Nudo Mixteco (2021)
- Language: Spanish, Mixtec
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: IMCINE - Mexican Film Institute