Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties, who has learned to live on her own to keep her illiteracy as a secret. Jackeline, is a young unemployed elementary school teacher, who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, till one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena's father left when he abandoned her many years before. Thus, the two women embark on a learning journey where they discover that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of them.
Acting
Paulina García's guarded vulnerability carries every frame
Writing
Reveals 'illiteracy' as metaphor without heavy hands
Director
Moisés Sepúlveda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Paulina García won Best Actress at Berlinale for Gloria (2013) the year before this—her transition to muted, shame-filled performance here shows remarkable range.
The 73-minute runtime isn't indie minimalism—it's deliberate. Ximena's decades of concealment couldn't sustain a longer film; her breakthrough needed to feel sudden, earned, almost accidental.
CL
