Atlanta Film Festival 365

Shot on location in a number of Argentinian penitentiaries and featuring many non-actors in supporting roles, the film tells the story of Julia, a twenty-five–year-old student incarcerated for committing a murder she can't remember. While endlessly awaiting trial, she gives birth to a baby boy, Tomas, and is sent to a prison reserved for mothers and their young children. 

The place is chaotic and sometimes brutal, but the women, most of whom are poor and uneducated, still constitute a community. Emotionally shattered and alone, Julia is comforted and protected by another prisoner who helps her bond with her son. But her fragile peace is threatened when Sofia, the mother who abandoned Julia years before, returns. 

Star Martina Gusman (who is married to the director) delivers a ferocious performance as Julia and provides a strong emotional core for this documentary-textured drama. Gusman won the International Film Critics' FIPRESCI award for Best Actress at the Palm Spring International Film Festival; the film was nominated for the Palm D'Or at Cannes in 2008. 

This film is not appropriate for children.

(Argentina/Brazil, 2008, 113 minutes.) 

In Spanish with subtitles.