Cannes Film Festival 2026 | Filmfest München 2026 | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2026 | New Horizons International Film Festival 2026 | Lima Film Festival 2026 | Melbourne International Film Festival 2026
Un Certain Regard – Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival 2026
After her student years in Europe, Elsa returns to Costa Rica to reunite with her family. She finds her younger sister living alone in the family home, becoming more distant and withdrawn, as if living in her own world. Their parents are busy in their own lives. Her father drifts through a series of affairs, while her mother is immersed in republishing the erotic poems of her youth, neither fully grasping the seriousness of the situation. Elsa’s return draws the three women into a confrontation with what still binds them, despite everything.
A graduate in filmmaking from the INSAS in Brussels, Valentina Maurel is a French-Costa Rican director. Her first film, Paul is Here, won the First Cinefondation Prize at Cannes 2017. Her short film, Lucia en el limbo, screened at the Critics' Week at Cannes 2019, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Premiers Plans Film Festival 2020. I Have Electric Dreams, her debut feature film, won three awards, including Best Direction at International Competition in Locarno 2022.
