This year’s Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) Award was awarded to a country not so familiar in the world of cinema. Guatemalan César DÍAZ has been working as an editor for over ten years and already made two documentaries, and his first feature film Our Mothers shows the influence from his previous experience.
Ernesto is a young anthropologist. At work, his job is identifying thousands of people who have disappeared during the genocide. At home, his mother lies in bed listlessly while the news goes on and on about the trial of soldiers who were involved in the civil war. One day, Ernesto meets an old woman, and he believes the photo she has will lead him to his father, a guerrilla who went missing during the war.
The personal story of Ernesto and his mother blends with the social issue driven by the history of ‘our mothers’, thousands of Mayan women who had to survive their husbands and sons. The director maintains a stoic approach, nothing is over-dramatic nor explicit, and ironically this in result enforces the tragedy. (Karen Park)