La Civil
Cannes award-winning drama about a Mexican mother who does everything she can to free her kidnapped teenage daughter from the hands of a drug cartel.
Cielo’s teenage daughter, Laura, is kidnapped in Northern Mexico. Despite paying several ransoms, Laura is not returned. When the authorities offer no support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands. She finds help from Lamarque, a military man with an unconventional modus operandi, who agrees to assist her in her search – off the record – in exchange for information which she can provide as a local. Cielo’s collaboration with Lamarque will pull her into a spiral of violence.
LA CIVIL is the directorial debut of Teodora Ana Mihai, born in Bucharest and raised in Flanders. She succeeds in making the Mexican drug war tangible without lapsing into action clichés. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival, where the jury awarded Mihai the Prix de l'Audace for having the courage to draw attention to the problem of child abductions in Mexico.