Valentina or the Serenity

Angeles
Cruz

A Ñuu Savi woman, Mexico. As a writer and director Ángeles started her journey in 2012 with her award winning short "The Doldrums" or How to Cure Sadness, followed by the same successful shorts “The Letter” (2013) and "Arcangel" (2018) all of them winner of the production grant given by the Mexican Film Institute IMCINE. In 2021 her feature film debut “Nudo Mixteco” won the Mexican Academy Award for best first feature just after a successful festival run that includes it’s world premiere at the Miami International Film Festival and Rotterdam. Throughout her career, she has obtained recognition from various festivals around the world, which have rewarded her work carried out mainly in the community from which she originates. “Valentina or the Serenity” is her second feature and will be premiering at the TIFF Toronto International Film Festival.

Struggling with her father's death, Valentina retreats into a fantasy world as her alter ego, Kandi, who controls thunder and lightning. Ignoring reality, she searches for her father, causing anguish for her grieving mother. After learning that her father drowned in a nearby river, she begins to skip school to visit him, believing that he is speaking to her through the water. Isolating herself from her family and friends, Valentina must find a way back to her loved ones and to herself.