The Prize (El Premio) Paula Markovitch, Argentina, 2011, 99 minutes
Under the cloud of a military dictatorship, a young mother and her daughter flee Buenos Aires for the seclusion of a ramshackle cottage along the windy dunes of an Argentine beach. As her mother listens for news from the radio with sad stoicism, restlessly curious seven-year-old Cecilia joins a nearby school overseen by a kindly teacher. A childhood idyll, however, soon becomes contaminated by the general political crisis, as the teacher recruits the class for a patriotic essay contest sponsored by the army—the very people that may have already “disappeared” Cecilia’s father—in this superbly acted and engrossingly atmospheric drama about innocence in illicit times. Spanish, with subtitles in English.
Global Lens 2012 is an annual, curated program of narrative feature films from Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Each film in the series is selected for its authentic voice, strong cinematics and unique cultural perspective, opening a window to the diverse world in which we live. More information can be found at www.globalfilm.org.