North American Premiere
Azucena seeks to reconnect with her 18-year-old son, Julio, whom she abandoned at an orphanage after giving birth to him at age 13. The pull is undeniable as the two find their way back into each other’s lives, but unresolved issues loom.
Fresh off the film’s premiere in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, Ana Cristina Barragán returns to VIFF with this haunting follow-up to her sophomore feature Octopus Skin (VIFF 2023), continuing to explore the murky waters of parental attachment and push the boundaries of familial intimacy. Her knack for working with young casts of largely non-actors is as astute as ever, eliciting raw performances that saturate the screen with rare emotional immediacy. Relying on semi-choreographed, non-verbal dynamics and dreamy visual textures, she lures the viewer in a state of dramatic suspension, masterfully balancing moments of restraint with those of absolute abandon.
Best Screenplay: Orizzonti, Venice 2025
Community Partner
Simone Bucio, Francis Eddú Llumiquinga
Ecuador/Mexico/France/Spain
2025
In Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Oderay Game
Producer
Joe Houlberg Silva, Alex de Icaza, Gabriela Maldonado, Montse Pujol Solà, Thierry Leunovel
Screenwriter
Ana Cristina Barragán
Cinematography
Adrian Durazo
Editor
Gerard Borràs, Omar Guzmán, Ana Cristina Barragán
Original Music
Claudia Baulies
Ana Cristina Barragán
Ana Cristina Barragán is a screenwriter and director. Her debut, Alba (2016), won over 35 awards and was Ecuador’s Oscar submission. Her second feature, The Octopus Skin (2022), premiered at San Sebastián. It won six Colibrí Awards and was part of the 2024 Platino Awards. The Ivy (2025) is her third feature and premiered at Venice.
Filmography: Alba (2016); Octopus Skin (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.