Tótem

A poignant birthday party exposes a series of family tensions in Lila Avilés’ outstanding follow-up to The Chambermaid.

Today is her father's birthday, but something is wrong. Sol (Naíma Sentíes) tries to make sense of it - the chaos and evasion in the adults around her. As the party starts, we come to realise why.

Lila Avilés crafts a compact and artful story with the same skill she brought to her debut, The Chambermaid. It uses the newcomer Sentíes to communicate, in a gesture or a look, a depth of emotion that scripted words seldom capture. There is joy and grief, warmth and wisdom here, the work of a filmmaker with rare talent.