Maternal

Young Sister Paola travels from Italy to Buenos Aires to complete her novitiate and take her final vows. She begins her work in a hogar, a religious center for teenage mothers, where she meets 17-year-old Lu and Fati. The two precocious teenagers struggle with the strict rules of the nuns who have taken them in. Paola, in turn, finds herself confronted with a world that throws her off track. She develops strong maternal feelings for one of the children and thinks about new paths for herself. In MATERNAL, director Maura Delpero tells a story of female strength and inner conflict with great sensitivity. Her feature film debut combines the calmness of documentary observation with the emotional power of a finely composed drama. Shot in Buenos Aires with amateur actors, the film captures the tensions of a closed microcosm in which care and freedom are constantly being renegotiated. MATERNAL premiered at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival, where it won several awards, including the Europa Cinemas Label, a Special Mention from the Jury, the Ecumenical Jury Prize, and Second Prize from the Junior Jury. These honors recognized Delpero's subtle direction and her unadulterated view of spirituality, motherhood, and self-determination. With its poetic imagery and deep humanity, MATERNAL is considered a remarkable contribution to contemporary auteur cinema.