Exploring the Depths of Mourning and Imagination, San Sebastian Daughter of Rage Arcs Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

On the heels of a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and ahead of its bow in competition New Directors in San Sebastián, BFF, which leads international sales, has granted Variety exclusive access to the trailer for Nicaraguan director Laura Baumeister's feature debut, 'Daughter of Rage' .

The film follows 11-year-old María and her mother, Lilibeth, who navigate poverty by collecting and reuse waste from the local landfill. A look at the suffocating generational debt passed down in communities that work hard to stay afloat, the film also addresses early family ties, abandonment, and the salvation of an imaginary that allows the protagonist to deal with uncertainty.

As the trailer begins, a vast expanse of trash litters the frame. María is alone, watching other children on top of a mountain of rubbish. Detached from her peers, a large collection bag wrapped around her slight frame, she trudges through the dump in search of goods.

Scenes of playful tenderness and attention are juxtaposed with shots of Lilibeth scolding and scolding a María melancholy, demonstrating the duality of their complicated relationship.

As veiled tensions mount, Lilibeth leaves María to work in a factory while she travels to settle her debts. Maria is shown around the property and meets Tadeo; the two form an instant and familiar bond, confiding in each other.

Running through her distress, other scenes tease her imaginative way of coping before following her away from his new friend, Tadeo, and the factory, looking for his mother or a little closure. The surrounding community is ablaze, but the glimmer of hope in his eyes remains, despite the ever-evolving trauma.

Produced by Nicaraguan Felipa Films of Laura and Rossana Baumeister and Bruna Haddad and Martha Orozco of Marth Films in Mexico alongside co-producers Halal, Heimafilm, Promenades Films, Caron Pictures, Dag Hoel Filmproduksjon and Nephilim Producciones, the project is the first fiction feature film shot by a Nicaraguan-born female director in the country.

"Daughter of Rage" will compete in San Sebastián's New Directors section alongside 15 others films by emerging directors, including Rocío Mesa's second feature "Tobacco Barns", Maria Elorza's "To Books and Women I Sing" and Jeong Ji-Hye's opening film "Jeong-Sun".

The film offers sobering commentary on the trajectory of grief, laying bare the weight of abandonment; which takes hold like a seed that sprouts strong roots, advancing like an unruly weed into the depths of the protagonist's psyche. It's a poignant nod to the stark contrast between the lives of children born in security and those who grew up with cyclical upheaval.

"In the concept of family as we know it, adults, to some extent, protect children of certain information, deficiencies, anxieties and anxieties so that they can live. Life gradually enters their worlds,” Baumeister said. “In the case of these children, nobody protects them. Life enters from the moment they are born, their minds instantly collide and have to face the real world."

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