Prayers for the Stolen
by Tatiana Huezo
In a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground. Ana and her two best friends take over the houses of those who have fled and dress up as women when no one is watching. In their own impenetrable universe, magic and joy abound; meanwhile, their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. But one day, one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time. Liberally adapted from Jennifer Clement’s eponymous 2014 novel.
The Mexican-El Salvadoran filmmaker graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (“CCC”) and has a Masters Degree in Documental de Creación from the Universidad Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
She has given conferences and workshops about documentary filmmaking in academic settings at the Universidad de Colombia, the Escuela de Cine de la Comunidad de Madrid and the CCC in Mexico, among others.
She also edited the book "El viaje, rutas y caminos andados para llegar a otro planeta” produced by the CCC and DocumentaMadrid. She has been a consultant for various documentary projects at IMCINE and served as a jury member at film festivals. Tatiana gained an international reputation with her first feature film El lugar más pequeño (“The Tiniest Place”, 2011), which was screened at more than 50 festivals and won numerous awards like the Ariel for “Best Mexican Documentary” (2012), Award for the Best International Feature Film at Visions Du Reel, Switzerland (2011), FIPRESCI Award at Mar del Plata (2011); and Der Standard Audience Award en Viennale, Austria (2011), among others.
Tempestad (2016), her second feature film, had its premiere at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in the Forum Section. It has since participated in over 80 festivals securing diverse awards such as the Tim Hetherington award at Sheffield Doc Fest, The Golden Frog for Best Documentary at the Camerimage Festival and more recently three Fenix Awards and four Ariel Awards including Best Direction and Best Documentary. She won the Coinversiones Culturales del FONCA scholarship in 2009 as well as the GUCCI Ambulante scholarship in 2010.
She became part of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte in 2013.
DIRECTOR'S FILMOGRAPHY:
2021: Prayers for the Stolen (Noche de Fuego)
2016: Tempestad
2011: The Tiniest Place (El lugar más pequeño)
Ana Cristina Ordóñez González - Ana (child)
Marya Membreño - Ana (adolescent)
Mayra Batalla - Rita
Written and directed by: Tatiana Huezo
Based on the Novel by: Jennifer Clement
Produced by: Nicolás Celis, Jim Stark
Executive Producer: Maya Scherr-Willson
Co-produced by: Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Rachel Daisy Ellis, Jamal Zeinal-Zade, Dan Wechsler, Susan Rockefeller, Joslyn Barnes, Danny Glover, José Cohen Ovadia, Helmut Dosantos, Doris Hepp, Burkhard Althoff
Associated Producers: Juan Carlos Rojas, Carlos Morales, Vanessa Hernández, Marcela Arenas Rosas
Casting: Graciela Miguel Villanueva, Natalia Beristain
Acting Coach: Fátima Toledo
Costume Design: Úrsula Schneider Núñez
Editor: Miguel Schverdfinger
Sound Designer: Lena Esquenazi
Original Music: Jacobo Lieberman and Leonardo Heiblum
Production Designer: Oscar Tello
Director of Photography: Dariela Ludlow
Original title: Noche de fuego
International title: Prayers For The Stolen
Duration: 110 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Format: 2K
Sound:5. 1
Year: 2021
Original language: Spanish
Countries of production: Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Qatar
Production Companies: Pimienta Films
Co-production Companies: Match Factory Productions, Desvia, Bord Cadre films, Louverture Films, Cactus Film & Video, Jaque Content , ZDF- Das kleine Fernsehspiel in association with Arte
With the support of: Estímulo Fiscal de la L.I.S.R. 189 (Eficine), Hubert Bals Fund + Europe Programme of International Film Festival Rotterdam, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Berlinale World Cinema Fund, Agência Nacional do Cinema- ANCINE, BRDE & FSA, Doha Film Institute, SFFILM Rainin Grant, Cinereach, Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund, Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
