Tatiana Huezo

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Huezo and the second or maternal family name is Sánchez.

Tatiana Huezo Sánchez (Latin American Spanish: [taˈtjana ˈweso ˈsantʃes]; born 9 January 1972) is a film director of Salvadoran and Mexican nationality, residing in Mexico. Her first film, 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.^[1]

Tatiana Huezo
Huezo at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival
Born	Tatiana Huezo Sánchez (1972-01-09) 9 January 1972 (age 52) San Salvador, El Salvador
Nationality	Salvadoran and Mexican
Alma mater	Pompeu Fabra University
Occupation	Film director
Awards	Fénix Award for Best Documentary (2016) Ariel Award for Best Director (2017)

Career

Born in El Salvador, Tatiana Huezo has lived in Mexico since she was four years old.^[2] She graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), where she has since taught classes.^[3] In 2004 she completed a master's degree in creative documentary at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[4]

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.^[6]

In her work, she has portrayed the impunity of people before justice and institutions, humanizing the victims. About Tempestad, Huezo said:

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.^[2]

Tempestad, which received the 2016 Fénix Award for Best Documentary,^[7] 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.^[8] "What happens in Mexico is close to the civil war that is taking place in Central America," explains Huezo.

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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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).^[10] 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

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2011	Ariel Awards	Best Documentary Feature	El lugar más pequeño	Won	[11]
		Best First Work		Nominated
	Mar del Plata International Film Festival	FIPRESCI Award - Special Mention		Won	[11]
		Best Latin-American Film		Nominated
2012	Cinema Eye Honors	Spotlight Award		Won
2016	Ariel Awards	Best Documentary Short	Ausencias	Won	[12]
	Fénix Awards	Best Documentary	Tempestad	Won	[7]
2017	International Emmy Awards	Best Documentary		Nominated	[13]
	Ariel Awards	Best Picture		Nominated	[14]
		Best Director		Won
		Best Original Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Documentary Feature		Won
		Best Film Editing		Nominated
2021	Cannes Film Festival	Un Certain Regard	Prayers for the Stolen	Nominated	[15]
		Un Certain Regard - Special Mention		Won
	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Horizontes Latinos		Won	[16]
		RTVE Otra Mirada Award		Won
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	Next Generation Award		Won	[17]
	Forqué Awards	Best Latin-American Film		Won	[18]
2022	Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding First-Time Feature Film Director		Nominated	[19]
	Satellite Awards	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated	[20]
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best International Film		Nominated	[21]
	Palm Springs International Film Festival	Young Cineastes Award		Nominated	[22]
		FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film		Won
		Best Ibero-American Film		Won
	Platino Awards	Best Director		Nominated	[23]
	Ariel Awards	Best Picture		Won	[24]
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Goya Awards	Best Ibero-American Film		Nominated	[25]
2023	Berlin International Film Festival	Golden Bear Plaque	The Echo	Nominated	[26]
		Berlinale Documentary Film Award		Won	[27][28]
		Encounters Award: Best Director		Won	[29]

References

1. Linden, Sheri (2021-07-16). "'Prayers for the Stolen' ('Noche de Fuego'): Film Review | Cannes 2021". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
2. "'Tempestad', de la salvadoreña Tatiana Huezo, es la apuesta de México para los premios Oscar y Goya" ['Tempestad', by the Salvadoran Tatiana Huezo, is Mexico's Best Bet for the Oscar and Goya Awards]. La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). AP. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
3. "Tatiana Huezo Sánchez". Film in Latino (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2017.
4. "Tempestad" (in Spanish). DocumentaMadrid. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
5. "Tatiana Huezo". Visions du Réel. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
6. Bautista, Eduardo (20 January 2015). "Documentar el vacío de los desaparecidos, el reto de 'Ausencias'" [Documenting the Vacuum of the Disappeared, the Challenge of 'Ausencias']. El Financiero (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2017.
7. "'Tempestad', mejor documental en los Premios Fénix del cine iberoamericano" ['Tempestad', Best Documentary at the Fénix Awards for Ibero-American Film]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 8 December 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
8. Lépine, Cédric (11 October 2016). "Entretien avec Tatiana Huezo pour son film 'Tempestad'" [Interview with Tatiana Huezo for Her Film 'Tempestad']. Mediapart (in French). Retrieved 10 November 2017.
9. "Noche de fuego | IFFR". iffr.com. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
10. "Prayers for the Stolen". Film at Lincoln Center. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
11. "El lugar más pequeño suma un Ariel a sus premios" [El lugar más pequeño Adds an Ariel to its Awards]. El Universal (in Spanish). Notimex. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
12. "Ganadores a los Premios Ariel 2016" (in Spanish). 28 May 2016. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
13. "2017 International Emmy Awards Nominees". International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
14. "Nominados 2017" (in Spanish). Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas. 2017. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
15. "Cannes' Palme D'Or goes to Titane". Cineuropa. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
16. "El palmarés completo del 69 Festival de Cine de San Sebastián". San Sebastián International Film Festival (in Spanish). September 26, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
17. Shanfeld, Ethan; Murphy, J. Kim (December 18, 2021). "'Drive My Car' and 'The Power of the Dog' Win Top Prizes at L.A. Film Critics Association Awards 2021 (Full List)". Variety. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
18. Rebolledo, Matías G. (11 December 2021). "Lista completa de ganadores de los Premios Forqué 2021". La Razón.
19. Lewis, Hilary; Verhoeven, Beatrice (27 January 2022). "Directors Guild Reveals 2022 Feature Film Award Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter.
20. Fuster, Jeremy (1 December 2021). "'Power of the Dog' and 'Belfast' Lead Nominations for IPA Satellite Awards". TheWrap.
21. D'Alessandro, Anthony; Goldsmith, Jill (14 December 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations: 'Zola', 'A Chiara', 'C'mon C'mon', 'The Lost Daughter', 'The Novice' In Best Feature Race As A24 Sweeps Nods". Deadline.
22. "PSIFF 2022 Juried Award Winners". Palm Springs International Film Festival. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
23. ""El buen patrón" y la serie argentina "El reino", los más nominados a los Premios Platino". Telam. 31 March 2022.
24. "Lista de ganadores de la 64 edición del Premio Ariel". Diario Las Américas. 12 October 2022.
25. "'As bestas' es la favorita de los Premios Goya del relevo generacional: listado de nominaciones". Cinemanía. 1 December 2022 – via 20minutos.es.
26. Ramachandran, Naman; Vivarelli, Nick (23 January 2023). "Berlin Film Festival Reveals Competition Lineup (Updating Live)". Variety. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
27. "Films nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Film Award". Berlinale. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
28. Nikkhah Azad, Navid (2 February 2023). "Berlinale Documentary Award Jury 2023". Deed News. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
29. Ntim, Zac (25 February 2023). "Berlin Film Festival Winners: Follow Live". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 25 February 2023.

External links

• Tatiana Huezo at IMDb