The Best Mother in the World

Name: The Best Mother in the World
Start: 2025-04-19T12:15:00-07:00
End: 2025-04-19T14:30:00-07:00
Location: Marina Theatre

Directed by Anna Muylaert | Brazil | Fiction | 106 min

In director Ana Endara’s powerful narrative feature debut a pregnant Colombian woman arrives in Panama City desperate for work as she copes with her precarious immigration status. Ana Maria (Jenny Navarrete) finds a job as a caregiver for aging matriarch Mercedes (Paulina Garcia), who is in the early stages of dementia. Patient and kind with the older woman, they form a sweet bond which fuels this tender tale. Navarrete and Garcia share remarkable chemistry, their masterful performances revealing a deepening connection between Ana Marie and Mercedes that allows both to evolve into stronger women. Nicolás Wong Díaz’s gorgeous cinematography captures Panama City’s lush environment along with the warmth between these very different women amidst great change in their respective lives. —Kristal Sotomayor

More Details

Description

Filmmaker Anna Muylaert (The Second Mother, Festival 2015) is known for her empathetic portraits of Brazilian women working hard to provide for their families and improve their own personal circumstances. In her latest film, trash collector Gal (Shirley Cruz) flees an abusive relationship and takes to the streets with her two kids and the pushcart that is her livelihood. Pretending they are on a grand adventure in the streets of São Paulo rather than confront her children with the reality of being homeless, Gal attempts to bring a spirit of playfulness to a dire situation. Muylaert brings her characteristic compassion to the fore, heightened by Cruz’s textured performance that blends the levity of the family splashing around in a public fountain with the pathos of a middle-aged woman facing a difficult path ahead. Actor-musician Seu Jorge is similarly memorable as the brutish Leandro.—Rod Armstrong

PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH

Biographies

Director Anna Muylaert

Brazilian director and screenwriter Anna Muylaert studied filmmaking at the School of Communications and Arts at University of São Paulo. She worked as a film critic and TV editor and reporter before embarking on her filmmaking career. Among her films are The Second Mother (Festival 2015), winner of two awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and a Silver Ariel Award for Best Latin-American Film, and Don’t Call Me Son (2016), winner of Berlin’s Teddy Award.