At 13, Rita (Giuliana Santa Cruz) flees from an abusive home life, only to be detained by the government in an all-girls shelter that resembles a prison. Though she has stopped believing in fairy tales, her fellow wards prophesize that she is the warrior angel who will liberate them from the wicked social workers and ogre-like guards who prey on their innocence. Determined to reunite with her little sister, Rita takes drastic measures to conduct an escape on International Women’s Day.
Evocative of early Guillermo del Toro, this magical realist fable from acclaimed Guatemalan writer-director Jayro Bustamante (La Llorona, Tremors) pairs a fantastical atmosphere with mature themes of real-world subjugation. The film’s aesthetics, from its stylized costuming to its dynamic wide compositions, create the illusion of a baroque painting come to life. A powerful tribute to the 41 victims of the 2017 blaze at the Virgen de la Asunsión orphanage in Guatemala, Rita immortalizes the revolutionary spirit and sisterhood of the girls who lost their lives while protesting unjust conditions.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Sabrina De La Hoz, Margarita Kénefic, Ernesto Villagran, Glendi Rucal, María Telón, Juan Pablo Olyslage
Guatemala
2024
In Spanish with English subtitles
At International Village
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Ricardo Costianovsky, Tomás Darcyl, Matt Brodlie, Jonathan Kier, Davis Guggenheim
Producer
Jonathan King, Gustavo Matheu, Jayro Bustamante
Screenwriter
Jayro Bustamante
Cinematography
Inti Briones
Editor
Gustavo Matheu, Jayro Bustamante
Production Design
Angélica Perea
Original Music
Pascual Reyes
Jayro Bustamante
Jayro Bustamante, a Guatemalan director, producer, and writer, has gained international acclaim with films like Ixcanul (2015), Temblores (2019), and La Llorona (2019). His storytelling is deeply influenced by his childhood growing up in a Maya community on the shores of Lake Atitlán. He studied film in Paris and Rome before co-founding La Casa de Producción in Guatemala. His work has earned numerous awards and recognitions, including a Golden Globe nomination. Bustamante also founded Les Films Du Volcan, the Ixcanul Foundation, and is involved in various international film projects and campaigns.
Filmography: Ixcanul (2015); Temblores (2019); La Llorona (2019); 1991 (2021)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Breaking the Waves
Kicking off our 2026 Pantheon series of the greatest films ever made, Lars von Trier's 1996 masterpiece is a devastating melodrama featuring an indelible performance from Emily Watson as the woman whose love for her husband knows no bounds.
The Track
In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, three boys train for the Olympics in a bullet-ridden luge track abandoned since the 1984 Winter Games. An ambitious, hopeful look at the next generation striving to overcome the sins of their fathers.
Yunan
In this haunting mood piece, Munir is a middle-aged Syrian writer in exile in Germany. In crisis, he takes himself up to one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea, a suitable place to end it all...
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.