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Edition 2026

Official Selection

Mailin

While telling her daughter a bedtime story, Mailin pieces together her memories. What could have been a fairy tale turns out to be the story of a girl who suffered abuse by a priest for fifteen years. It is a long journey toward healing and justice, but also an opportunity to give her daughter the childhood she never had.

After winning the Pardino d’Oro for Best Short Film at Locarno in 2021 with Criatura, and premiering the short film The Spiral at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2022, María Silvia Esteve returns with a powerful story filmed over eight years that, through archival footage, home movies, and spectral animations, immerses us in the memories of an abuse that slowly emerge and endure.

Theme:

DramaHuman rightsReligionSexualitySocialViolenceWomen

María Silvia Esteve

Argentinian director and producer. Her first feature-length documentary, SILVIA, premiered at IDFA in 2018. In 2021, her film CRIATURA won the Pardino d’Oro at the Locarno Festival and was selected for over one hundred festivals, including Sitges, Fantasia, MIFF, and El Gouna. In 2022, her short film THE SPIRAL was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Her project MAILIN received major post-production awards at Visions du Réel, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and the Guadalajara Film Festival, and had its world premiere in the International Competition at IDFA 2025. Between 2024 and 2025, her immersive video installation CORTEX was exhibited at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris. As a Berlinale 2025 Talent, Silvia is currently developing FAUCES.

Foto director/a(s)

Technical details

Year:

2025

Credits

Director
María Silvia Esteve
Scenario
María Silvia Esteve
Editor
Maria Silvia Esteve
Sales agent (The Party Film Sales)
Théo Lionel / The Party Film Sales
Distributor (Lost & Found Films)
Ramón Rey / Lost & Found Films
Production company (Hana Films)
María Silvia Esteve / Hana Films
Production company (Ikki Films)
Alejandra López / Ikki Films
Production company (deFilm)
Radu Stancu / deFilm
Applicant (The Party Film Sales)
Théo Lionel / The Party Film Sales

Screening times

Thu 14/05/2026
20:45
Renoir | Sala 5
Sat 16/05/2026
20:45
Renoir | Sala 6

Awards