Dawn

In her acclaimed directorial debut, the accomplished cinematographer Carmen Torres interweaves the stories of her two mothers: the mother she grew up with in Spain, and the Colombian mother who put her up for adoption when she was born. More than 20 years after the sudden death of her Spanish mother, Carmen visits her biological mother for the first time. She weaves together her journey and this first meeting with her memories, some still sharp, some fading, of the mother she knew and loved so well.

Wistful but never sentimental, Torres’s meandering story transcends the purely personal from the first scene. Her voice-over and the associatively edited, poetic camerawork carry us along and naturally lead us into our own musings and reflections, not only about the way adoption permanently marks people’s lives, but also about love and grief, and how parents and children always carry each other in their hearts.