A riveting, genre-bending feature debut following a soon-to-be mother, Valeria, as she starts experiencing odd visions and sensations that alert her to a supernatural presence lurking around the corner. As her paranoia grows, she encounters increasing resistance from her partner and immediate family, with old wounds slowly resurfacing and further alienating her from her loved ones.
Precise yet measured in its use of occult themes and genre conventions, Huesera expertly fuses elements of demonic possession and witchcraft while drawing from regional folklore. Meanwhile, it astutely taps into taboo themes around motherhood, adding weight to every bone crack and window peek. A truly chilling watch, the film leans heavily into the body horror realm, employing sound and spider analogy to evoke the nature of demonic temperament. The visceral choreographies and bone-cracking alone promise to haunt one long after the credits roll.
Q&A Oct 1 & Oct 8
Media Partner
Natalia Solián, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Batalla, Mercedes Hernández, Aída López, Martha Claudia Moreno
Mexico/Peru
2022
In Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
Atonement
A former Marine suffering from PTSD seeks a meeting with the Iraqi family to which he did great wrong ten years earlier in the Gulf War. Atonement navigates challenging, politically-charged psychological territory with diligence and sensitivity.
The Sandbox
Borders are the faultlines of the world. Kenya-Jade Pinto's doc examines how modern surveillance technology, bio-metrics and AI are combining to make land and sea borders as impenetrable as air travel, and suggests the unspoken cost is our own humanity.
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology
Slavoj Zizek re-teams with director Sophie Fiennes for another wildly entertaining romp through the crossroads of cinema and philosophy. From The Sound of Music to Titanic, Jaws to The Dark Knight, Zizek offers new ways to understanding Hollywood.
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema takes the viewer on an exhilarating ride through some of the greatest movies ever made (Hitchcock, Lynch, Tarkovsky et al). Serving as guide is Slavoj Zizek, the superstar Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst.
You Had to Be There
In a strange quirk of fate, the legendary Toronto '72 production of the musical comedy Jesus hit Godspell launched a constellation of comedy stars, all unknown at the time but now known to us as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, et al
Credits
Executive Producer
Eduardo Lecuona, Javier Sepúlveda, Francisco Sánchez, Mauricio van Hasselt, Mónica Reina, Rune Hansen, Joakim Ziegler, Øyvind Stiauren, David Bond
Producer
Paulina Villavicencio, Edher Campos
Screenwriter
Michelle Garza Cervera, Abia Castillo
Cinematography
Nur Rubio Sherwell
Editor
Adriana Martínez
Production Design
Ana J. Bellido
Original Music
Gibrán Androide, Cabeza de Vaca
Director
Michelle Garza Cervera
Michelle Garza Cervera graduated from Centro de capacitación cinematográfica in Mexico City and was awarded a Chevening Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, where she completed an MFA. Her shorts have played all over the world. Huesera, her debut feature, was co-written with Abia Castillo.