Tótem

• Lila Avilés
• 95 min
• Mexico, France, Denmark, Netherlands
• 2023
• Fiction

Multi-award-winning and exquisitely crafted ensemble drama about an imploding Mexican extended family whose birthday celebration is marked by more sorrow than joy.

In her sensitive and moving follow-up to her debut and festival hit The Chambermaid, Lila Avilés paints a beautiful portrait of a family in crisis. Over the course of a day, they not only prepare for the evening's surprise party but also come to terms with the fact that this will inevitably be the celebrant's last celebration in life. While he rests to be able to participate at all, his seven-year-old daughter Sol roams around the house, and much of the story is seen from her perspective, exposing the fragile family bonds and the adults' unbounded behaviors in an incredibly nuanced and impressive manner. Tótem has won festival awards in Berlin, Hong Kong, Durban, and has been selected as Mexico's Oscar entry.

- Johan Blomqvist

• Oscarbidrag
• Relationer
• Familj
• Barndom
• Drama