| Prayers for the Stolen | |||
| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Tatiana Huezo | ||
| Cinematography: | Dariela Ludlow | ||
| Editing: | Miguel Schverdfinger | ||
| Country: | Mexico | ||
| Language: | Spanish | ||
Prayers for the Stolen (Spanish; Castilian: '''Noche de fuego'''|links=no|lit=Night of Fire) is a 2021 Mexican drama film directed and written by Tatiana Huezo,[1] which adapts Jennifer Clement's novel Prayers for the Stolen.[2]
Three girls in San Miguel, Jalisco come of age in a rural village that is dominated by the drug trade and human trafficking.The movie opens with the mother digging a hole for the little girl. We then see a boy working in a quarry. He doesn't look very happy. The people of the village are looking for a phone call in the hills of the village to ask their relatives for money. Ana calls her father but gets no answer. On her way home, Ana sees a woman crying in despair. The woman tells her to go home. Ana sees a scorpion on the ceiling and falls asleep. The next day starts with a school scene in which one of the students says "the scorpion has a stinger to protect it from its enemies". The next scene returns to the people working in the quarry and there is a huge explosion.
When her mother sees Ana wearing lipstick, she gets very angry and threatens her. Her mother takes Ana to the hairdresser. Here she cuts her hair like a man. Ana then goes to the house of her friend Juana, who is rumored to have been kidnapped, and looks out the window. The parents listen to the teacher. She reports that the cartels are demanding immediate payment.
The movie makes a time jump and goes to about 5-6 years later. Ana is moved by what the teacher tells her and dreams of changing the existing order. Then the cartels come to get Ana. But Ana immediately hides. The movie closes with a travel scene.[3]
In June 2021, the film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.[4] At Cannes, it won a Special Mention in the Un Certain Regard section.[5]
The film was theatrically released in Mexico on 16 September 2021.[6] In October 2021, it was disclosed to be the Mexican entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.[7] It began streaming on Netflix on 17 November 2021.
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannes Film Festival | 17 July 2021 | Un Certain Regard | Tatiana Huezo | [8] | ||
| Un Certain Regard - Special Mention | ||||||
| San Sebastián International Film Festival | 25 September 2021 | Horizontes Latinos | Prayers for the Stolen | [9] | ||
| RTVE Otra Mirada Award | ||||||
| Forqué Awards | Best Latin-American Film | [10] | ||||
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | 18 December 2021 | Next Generation Award | Tatiana Huezo | [11] | ||
| Palm Springs International Film Festival | 6 January 2022 | Young Cineastes Award | Tatiana Huezo | [12] | ||
| FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film | Prayers for the Stolen | |||||
| Best Ibero-American Film | ||||||
| Independent Spirit Awards | 6 March 2022 | [13] | ||||
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Tatiana Huezo | [14] | ||||
| Satellite Awards | Prayers for the Stolen | [15] | ||||
| Platino Awards | [16] | |||||
| Tatiana Huezo | ||||||
| Cristina Ordóñez González | ||||||
| Ariel Awards | 11 October 2022 | Best Picture | Prayers for the Stolen | [17] [18] | ||
| Best Director | Tatiana Huezo | |||||
| Best Actress | Cristina Ordóñez González | |||||
| Best Supporting Actor | Memo Villegas | |||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Eileen Yáñez | |||||
| Mayra Batalla | ||||||
| Norma Pablo | ||||||
| Best Breakthrough Performance | Alejandra Camacho | |||||
| Giselle Barrera | ||||||
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Tatiana Huezo | |||||
| Best Cinematography | Dariela Ludlow | |||||
| Best Original Score | Leonardo Heiblum and Jacobo Lieberman | |||||
| Best Editing | Yibrán Asuad | |||||
| Best Costume Design | Úrsula Schneider | |||||
| Best Art Design | Oscar Tello | |||||
| Best Makeup | Roberto Ortiz and Ana Robles | |||||
| Best Visual Effects | Miguel de Hoyos | |||||
| Best Special Effects | Ricardo Arvizu Jr. | |||||
| Best Sound | Lena Esquenazi, Federico G. Jordan and Paulo Gama | |||||
| Goya Awards | Prayers for the Stolen | [19] |