LA MATERNAL

2022 / 123 min / color

The protagonist of the second feature by Pilar Palomero is 14-year-old Carla (Carla Quílez, who won the Silver Shell at San Sebastián for her performance). She’s a rebellious teenager who lives in the back of a modest restaurant on the outskirts of a small town in Spain with her mom, who had her when she was very young herself. Carla cuts class and doesn’t really communicate with her mother. One day a social worker finds out that Carla is five months pregnant and sends her off to the titular center for underage girls and their children, La Maternal. Carla is quickly thrown into a rather intense and brutal course on motherhood. Palomero collaborated with real-life residents of the social welfare center where most of the action of her movie takes place. Many of them share their personal, often traumatic stories on camera. By juxtaposing them with the story of Carla, her child and her mother, it creates as layered, feminist portrait of women’s experiences around motherhood that’s full of empathy and understanding.

• San Sebastián IFF – Silver Seashell (Best Leading Performance – Carla Quílez)
• Stockholm IFF – Honorable Mention