The Rays of a Storm 2023

Directed by Julio Hernández Cordón

For this short, incisive opus, his starting point is a tree. A famous - and ailing - tree, which is said to have stood the test of time ever since Hernán Cortés, the conquistador, was said to have shed tears on it after his single but crushing defeat by the Aztecs in 1520 during the so-called Triste Nuit (Sad Night). Cordón, true to his style of taking his protagonists and us on unpredictable odysseys, invites us into the turmoil of this night with its multiple echoes. - N. Feodoroff