In the border city of Juárez, Mexico, where violence against women is perpetrated with impunity, an unlikely defender emerges with a desperate call for change. Inspired by true events.

Writer-director Suzanne Andrews Correa, an award-winning Sundance Film Festival shorts alum, returns to the Festival with a harrowing portrait of one woman pushed to extremes by an oppressive culture of violence, intimidation, and silence. Adriana Paz (Emilia Pérez) delivers a charged performance as Luz, a woman haunted by damage done to herself, her co-workers, and friends, who is desperate to protect her teenage daughter.

Correa’s electric direction and Maria Sarasvati Herrera’s disorienting cinematography reinforce Luz’s constant, propulsive fear and evoke a sense of the stalking dangers that surround her as she carries out her transgressive acts of defiance. Veteran actor Teresa Sánchez adds texture and nuance as Ximena, who leads the search for the disappeared and murdered, offering her own hard-fought resistance to the stifling, violent misogyny that envelopes their community. — HZ

This film contains mature content and is not recommended for audiences 17 and under.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).