Mia

Mía, dir. Javier van de Couter, 2010, Argentina, 105 min., in Spanish with English subtitles 
Thursday, June 27, 11:00 am @ Castro • U.S. première

Ale dines with friends
in the pink village

Ale (Camila Sosa Villada) scrapes by, scavenging, streetwalking, sewing, and doing odd jobs, living in Aldea Rosa, the pink village, a shantytown made by various gay and transgender outcasts on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, but she is trying to improve herself, learning how to read. She finds the diary of a middle-class mother named Mía and finds herself drawn into their lives. In particular, she meets a young girl named Julia, becoming a surrogate mother to the girl despite the objections of her own friends and the girl’s father. We get to watch Ale come into herself as she nurtures Julia and pursues her own simply stated goal: Ser quien quiero ser, to be who I want to be. It’s an interesting and moving story, beautifully made, with a fairytale setup but not a storybook ending. Highly recommended.

• IMDb page •