Gabriela
2023 · 16m · USA
Directed by Evelyn Lorena
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
A young undocumented Guatemalan woman pursues her dream of joining an elite Country Club swim team in the American South the summer after high school, navigating the tension between her ambition, her overprotective mother's fears, and the economic and legal barriers of her immigration status.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
The director is also the lead actor is also the subject — and none of that is disclosed — which makes the film's quiet devastation feel like it has no exit.
Evelyn Lorena wrote, directed, AND stars in her own immigration story — the autobiographical collapse is the film's quiet power, and the Country Club swim-team setting refuses both pity and triumph clichés.
Evelyn Lorena writing, directing, AND starring in her own undocumented-immigrant story — that triple-collapse is rare and lends the swim-team premise actual stakes. Oscar-qualifying status confirms it landed somewhere.
Festivals
- Atlanta Shortsfest 2023