Tatiana Huezo
{{Short description|Film director}}
{{family name hatnote|Huezo|Sánchez|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tatiana Huezo
| image = Tatiana Huezo with her Prizes, Berlinale 2023.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Huezo at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival
| birth_name = Tatiana Huezo Sánchez
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1972|01|09|df=yes}}
| birth_place = San Salvador, El Salvador
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Salvadoran and Mexican
| other_names =
| occupation = Film director
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse =
| children =
| awards = {{Plainlist|
- Fénix Award for Best Documentary (2016)
- Ariel Award for Best Director (2017)
}}
| alma_mater = Pompeu Fabra University
}}
Tatiana Huezo Sánchez ({{IPA|es-419|taˈtjana ˈweso ˈsantʃes|lang}}; born 9 January 1972) is a film director of Salvadoran and Mexican nationality, residing in Mexico. Her first film, {{ill|El lugar más pequeño|es}} (2011), a documentary about the Salvadoran Civil War, has been awarded internationally. In 2016 she premiered Tempestad, the story of two women who suffer the consequences of human trafficking in Mexico. It received the 2016 Fénix Award for Best Documentary. In 2021, she premiered her first fiction film, Noche de Fuego, a story about three young girls in Mexico on their path to examine their adolescence in a town dominated by drug trade and human trafficking.{{Cite web |last=Linden |first=Sheri |date=2021-07-16 |title='Prayers for the Stolen' ('Noche de Fuego'): Film Review {{!}} Cannes 2021 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/prayers-for-the-stolen-cannes-2021-1234977216/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}
Career
Born in El Salvador, Tatiana Huezo has lived in Mexico since she was four years old.{{Cite news |url=https://www.laprensagrafica.com/farandula/Tempestad-de-la-salvadorena-Tatiana-Huezo-es-la-apuesta-de-Mexico-para-los-premios-Oscar-y-Goya-20170914-0043.html |title='Tempestad', de la salvadoreña Tatiana Huezo, es la apuesta de México para los premios Oscar y Goya |trans-title='Tempestad', by the Salvadoran Tatiana Huezo, is Mexico's Best Bet for the Oscar and Goya Awards |work=La Prensa Gráfica |agency=AP |language=Spanish |date=14 September 2017 |access-date=10 November 2017}} She graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), where she has since taught classes.{{Cite web |url=https://www.filminlatino.mx/directora/tatiana-huezo-sanchez |title=Tatiana Huezo Sánchez |website=Film in Latino |language=Spanish |access-date=10 November 2017}} In 2004 she completed a master's degree in creative documentary at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.{{Cite web |url=https://www.documentamadrid.com/es/ficha/pelicula/tempestad/ |title=Tempestad |publisher=DocumentaMadrid |language=Spanish |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504141600/https://www.documentamadrid.com/es/ficha/pelicula/tempestad/ |archive-date=4 May 2016 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 November 2017}}
After her first attempts—short films such as Arido (1992), Tiempo cáustico (1997), Familia (2004) or Sueño (2005)—she gained international renown with her first feature-length film, El lugar más pequeño (2011), presented as an international premiere at Visions du Réel in 2011 where it won the Grand Prix for the Best Feature-length Film.{{Cite web |title=Tatiana Huezo |url=https://www.visionsdureel.ch/en/program/ateliers/tatiana-huezo-sanchez/ |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=Visions du Réel |language=en-US}} Her documentary, El lugar más pequeño is a testimony to the experience of the civil war in El Salvador. It has received numerous awards and has been exhibited at more than 50 festivals around the world.
In 2015 Huezo presented Ausencias, a 27-minute short film that recounts the pain of Lulu, a mother who loses her husband and son, who have disappeared due to organized crime.{{Cite news |url=http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/after-office/documentar-el-vacio-el-reto-de-ausencias.html |title=Documentar el vacío de los desaparecidos, el reto de 'Ausencias' |trans-title=Documenting the Vacuum of the Disappeared, the Challenge of 'Ausencias' |last=Bautista |first=Eduardo |work=El Financiero |language=Spanish |date=20 January 2015 |access-date=10 November 2017}}
In her work, she has portrayed the impunity of people before justice and institutions, humanizing the victims. About Tempestad, Huezo said:
{{Quote|Against the vomit of figures, images, and discourses that make the victims invisible, turning them into numbers, it seems essential to return to the faces, to the intimate gesture, to their history and complexity, to return to people, to their dreams, pains and hopes. Maybe then from there we can return to empathy, to the capacity to move us.}}
Tempestad, which received the 2016 Fénix Award for Best Documentary,{{Cite news |url=http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20161208/412477136025/tempestad-mejor-documental-en-los-premios-fenix-del-cine-iberoamericano.html |title='Tempestad', mejor documental en los Premios Fénix del cine iberoamericano |trans-title='Tempestad', Best Documentary at the Fénix Awards for Ibero-American Film |work=La Vanguardia |language=Spanish |date=8 December 2016 |access-date=10 November 2017}} tells the true story of Mexican women Miryam Carvajal – who spent almost a year incarcerated in Matamoros prison, accused of human trafficking, a crime she did not commit – and Aldela Alvarado, who is looking for her missing daughter.{{Cite journal |url=https://blogs.mediapart.fr/edition/cinemas-damerique-latine-et-plus-encore/article/111016/entretien-avec-tatiana-huezo-pour-son-film-tempestad |title=Entretien avec Tatiana Huezo pour son film 'Tempestad' |trans-title=Interview with Tatiana Huezo for Her Film 'Tempestad' |last=Lépine |first=Cédric |journal=Mediapart |language=French |date=11 October 2016 |access-date=10 November 2017}} "What happens in Mexico is close to the civil war that is taking place in Central America," explains Huezo.
{{Quote|The mechanisms of terror [in El Salvador] are very similar to those that currently occur in Mexico. [...] We have begun to see corpses without heads, the development of femicide on the border with the United States. [...] Unfortunately in Latin America we find widespread corruption, and impunity continues to be exercised on the basis of profound economic inequality among people.}}In 2021, after many years of focusing her craft on documentaries, Huezo premiered her first fiction feature, Noche de Fuego (2021). In a mountain town in Mexico, Ana, Paula and Maria live a childhood that oscillates between idyllic and dreadful, as they reach adolescence, they are faced with the growing pains of womanhood, and a threatening and cruel environment.{{Cite web |title=Noche de fuego {{!}} IFFR |url=https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2022/films/noche-de-fuego |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=iffr.com}}
{{quote|quote=Huezo, born in El Salvador and raised in Mexico, had already been researching the area for a documentary she’d been developing, so in the end it seemed like the perfect opportunity to step into fiction filmmaking, after a career made from award-winning socially committed documentaries.}}
This film was based on the Jennifer Clement novel, Prayers for the Stolen (2012).{{Cite web |title=Prayers for the Stolen |url=https://www.filmlinc.org/films/prayers-for-the-stolen/ |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=Film at Lincoln Center |language=en}} It premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and has received critical acclaim for its powerful storytelling and cinematography.
Filmography
- Arido - 1992
- Tiempo cáustico - 1997
- El ombligo del mundo - 2001
- Familia - 2004
- Sueño - 2005
- The Tiniest Place (El lugar más pequeño) - 2011
- Ausencias - 2015
- The Empty Classroom (El aula vacia) - 2015
- Tempestad - 2016
- Prayers for the Stolen (Noche de fuego) - 2021
- The Echo (El Eco) - 2023
Awards and nominations
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb name}}
{{Tatiana Huezo}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huezo, Tatiana}}
Category:Best Director Ariel Award winners
Category:Mexican documentary film directors
Category:Mexican women film directors
Category:People from San Salvador
Category:Pompeu Fabra University alumni
Category:Salvadoran film directors