(SIGNIS / INTERFILM). La Civil, a Belgian-Romanian-Mexican co-production directed by Teodora Ana Mihai, has won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 36th Fribourg International Film Festival.
The film tells the story of Cielo – played outstandingly by Arcelia Ramírez – a mother who falls into the terrible violence of the Mexican cartels after her daughter is kidnapped. After the authorities refuse to help her find her daughter, Cielo decides to take matters into her own hands. The film is based on a true story and depicts the distressing reality faced by many parents in Mexico.
The Jury was impressed by this woman’s courage and her phenomenal energy and determination. Around this dramatic event, she develops a powerful inner strength to persevere to the end in her search for the truth. The film is a powerful universal plea for all those mothers who relentlessly keep their hope alive and engage in the fight for justice.
The members of the Jury were Diane Falque (France), Bernadette Meier (Switzerland, President), Guy Rainotte (Belgium), and Renata Werlen (Switzerland).
The 36th edition of the Fribourg International Film Festival took place from 18th to 27th March 2022. The festival’s Grand Prix went to Maryna Er Gorbach for Klondike, a film set in eastern Ukraine in 2014, after the beginning of the Russian war against the country. It was already awarded the Panorama Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlinale 2022.
