Alba

Alba is eleven and hardly speaks. She looks after her sick mother, helps her to the bathroom and plays silently during the day so her mother can rest. One night the mother gets worse and is taken to hospital. With nobody left to look after her, Alba is sent to live with the father she has not seen since she was three. Edgar tries tenderly to get close to her, but the house is a hard place for Alba. Ana Cristina Barragán's first feature is set in Ecuador and tells growing up through small humiliations rather than big events: being shut out at school, a first kiss, visits to the hospital, waking up in the same house as a man she does not know. The camera does not leave Alba's face and hands. Macarena Arias carries the film almost without speaking. What comes out is a quiet, careful film that does not dress childhood up with sentimental music.