Cautiva (in Spanish, with English
subtitles) is written, produced and directed by Gastón
Biraben in a dazzling debut. The film tells the story of
Cristina, a typical Argentine teenager. Her life is suddenly
uprooted when she is plucked out of class at the summons of
a judge and the couple she knows as her parents are revealed
to not be so. In the early 80s, her biological parents were
"disappeared" for criticizing the military junta which had
taken power in a coup. Surviving relatives of her biological
parents, including Cristina's grandmother, have spent years
trying to track down the child. Ordered to now live with her
biological family since her adoption – or appropriation, as
it is chillingly called – had no legal basis, Cristina
begins an investigation of her own in order to find out the
truth. Played with an extraordinary gravity by the luminous
Bárbara Lombardo in her film debut, the young girl meets
others like herself and discovers the real-life horrors of
Argentina's relatively recent history and the nightmare that
claimed tens of thousands of lives during the country's
“dirty war.”
A movie about the consequences of both political and
psychological repression, Cautiva ultimately personifies the
resilience of the human spirit.
Cautiva, Gastón Biraben's internationally acclaimed
Argentinean thriller, has been a hit on the international
film festival circuit winning prizes at San Sebastian
(Horizons Award for Best Latin American Film), Toulouse (FIPRESCI
International Critics Prize) and Mar de la Plata (Best
Film). Cautiva had its U.S. premiere at the prestigious New
Directors/New Films series organized by the Film Society of
Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art. Most recently,
Cautiva won two Silver Condor Awards (also known as the
Argentine Oscars), the highest award given to cinema in that
country.
©2006 Laemmmle Zeller Films. All rights reserved.
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