APRIL’S DAUGHTERS – Las Hijas de Abril
Mexico, 2017
Spanish with English subtitles | 103 min
Director: Michel Franco
Thursday, August 30th
8:45pm @ The Cinematheque
Sunday, September 2nd
1pm @ The Cinematheque
Carefree Valeria is seventeen and pregnant. She lives in Puerto Vallarta with Clara, her older half-sister. Valeria has not wanted her long-absent mother, April, to find out about her pregnancy, but due to the economic strain and overwhelming responsibility of having a baby in the house, Clara decides to call their mother and invite her to visit. April arrives, initially warm and willing to help her daughters, but it soon becomes clear why Valeria has kept her away. Director Michel Franco’s fifth feature film further explores his ongoing fascination with human psychology and the ramifications of interpersonal trauma and discord, painting a portrait of familial dysfunction and the complexities of the mother-daughter bond.
“The mothering instinct gets a sociopathically melodramatic makeover in Michel Franco‘s “April’s Daughter,” an initially engrossing but increasingly lunatic film that nonetheless convinced the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury enough for them to give it the Jury Prize this year.” -Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
Special Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2017
Valeria tiene 17 años y está embarazada. Vive en Puerto Vallarta, México, con Clara, su media-hermana de 34 años. Valeria no quería que su madre, a menudo ausente, estuviera al corriente de su embarazo, pero a causa del coste y de la responsabilidad que entraña un niño, Clara decide recurrir a ella. Abril se instala, aparentemente deseosa de ayudar a sus hijas, pero con la llegada del bebé su comportamiento cambia y las reticencias de Valeria a pedirle ayuda se justifican cada vez más.
Michael’s Filmography: Daniel y Ana (2009), Después de Lucía (2012), A los ojos (2013), Chronic (2015)
Michel Franco was born in Mexico City. He earned a degree in film direction from the New York Film Academy and began making films with his production company, Lucía Films. His film After Lucia won the Prize Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. His 2015 film Chronic was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Franco won the award for Best Screenplay. His 2017 film April’s Daughter was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.