Noche de fuego

The residents of a Mexican village are caught up in the daily crossfire of the local cartel – most affected are women and their daughters. In order to prevent eight-year-old Ana from being recognised as a girl and kidnapped, her mother Rita cuts off her hair and shows her a place where she and her friends can hide, whenever the dreaded black SUVs drive up. But as the years pass, the cartel's presence increases and the now adolescent women no longer wish to remain invisible. Director Tatiana Huezo has a subtle way of rendering the omnipresent threat tangible. Moments of joy are all the more powerful, whenever some normaility returns.