Prayers for the Stolen

Acclaimed Mexican Salvadoran filmmaker Tatiana Huezo’s work (The Tiniest Place) is focused on “returning the faces” of Latin American women who have become mere statistics: of war, of sexual violence, of death. Her first fictional film, Mexico’s official Oscar submission in 2021, revolves around three young girls coming of age in a remote Mexican highland village dominated by the cartel, where childhood games are interrupted by shoot-outs, and friends, teachers, and whole families sometimes “disappear.” “An extraordinary, haunting first fiction feature” (Observer), Prayers for the Stolen “is a masterfully evocative portrait of coming of age in the shadow of Mexico’s narco wars” (Little White Lies).