Ana J. Bellido

Valeria's joy at becoming a first-time mother is quickly taken away when she's cursed by a sinister entity. As danger closes in, she's forced deeper into a chilling world of dark magic that threatens to consume her.

In Secret Machine, the protagonist encounters an antagonist that is studying her, measuring her body and comparing her to units of space and time. Clocks rush and her movements are calculated on a grid: the eye is observed through lenses; her breath is submitted to a resistance rate by putting her under water; needles are used to quantify her reactions and pain: and her voice and motion are recorded. For the scientist measurement is understanding. While human nature appears confined in the framework and efforts of rationality, the aspiration of trapping the soul conduce the antagonist to imagine the improvable.

In Guita Schyfter’s El águila y el gusano, an intricate plot serves to intersect the destinies of several characters: the owner of a beauty salon in love with “all things Chinese”, a politician with a taste for oration who couldn’t care less about the problems of his country, a political adviser whose counsel is never considered and a shady investigator with a name that nobody seems to recall. The script by Schyfter and Hugo Hiriart, her longtime collaborator and author of the 2013 novel on which the film is based, bristles with finely-crafted, hilarious dialogue.

Rafaela is a young nun who belongs to a precarious congregation. For some time, a recurring dream has haunted her. At the same time, she is sent to a nearby town in search of the new archbishop. Along the way, she will experience extraordinary encounters that will either advance or retreat from her path.