Tatiana Huezo

Tatiana Huezo Sánchez (; born 9 January 1972) is a film director of Salvadoran and Mexican nationality, residing in Mexico. Her first film,, a documentary about the Salvadoran Civil War, has been awarded internationally. In 2016 she premiered Tempestad, the story of two women who suffer the consequences of human trafficking in Mexico. It received the 2016 Fénix Award for Best Documentary. In 2021, she premiered her first fiction film, Noche de Fuego, a story about three young girls in Mexico on their path to examine their adolescence in a town dominated by drug trade and human trafficking.

Career Born in El Salvador, Tatiana Huezo has lived in Mexico since she was four years old. She graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), where she has since taught classes. In 2004 she completed a master's degree in creative documentary at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.

After her first attempts—short films such as Arido (1992), Tiempo cáustico (1997), Familia (2004) or Sueño (2005)—she gained international renown with her first feature-length film, El lugar más pequeño (2011), presented as an international premiere at Visions du Réel in 2011 where it won the Grand Prix for the Best Feature-length Film. Her documentary, El lugar más pequeño is a testimony to the experience of the civil war in El Salvador. It has received numerous awards and has been exhibited at more than 50 festivals around the world.

In her work, she has portrayed the impunity of people before justice and institutions, humanizing the victims. About Tempestad, Huezo said:

Quote|Against the vomit of figures, images, and discourses that make the victims invisible, turning them into numbers, it seems essential to return to the faces, to the intimate gesture, to their history and complexity, to return to people, to their dreams, pains and hopes. Maybe then from there we can return to empathy, to the capacity to move us. tells the true story of Mexican women Miryam Carvajal – who spent almost a year incarcerated in Matamoros prison, accused of human trafficking, a crime she did not commit – and Aldela Alvarado, who is looking for her missing daughter. "What happens in Mexico is close to the civil war that is taking place in Central America," explains Huezo.

Quote|The mechanisms of terror [in El Salvador] are very similar to those that currently occur in Mexico. [...] We have begun to see corpses without heads, the development of femicide on the border with the United States. [...] Unfortunately in Latin America we find widespread corruption, and impunity continues to be exercised on the basis of profound economic inequality among people.

This film was based on the Jennifer Clement novel, Prayers for the Stolen (2012). It premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and has received critical acclaim for its powerful storytelling and cinematography.

Filmography Arido - 1992 Tiempo cáustico - 1997 El ombligo del mundo - 2001 Familia - 2004 Sueño - 2005 The Tiniest Place (El lugar más pequeño) - 2011 Ausencias - 2015 The Empty Classroom (El aula vacia) - 2015 Tempestad - 2016 Prayers for the Stolen (Noche de fuego) - 2021 The Echo (El Eco) - 2023 Galerna - In production

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ariel Awards Best Documentary Feature El lugar más pequeño Best First Work Mar del Plata International Film Festival FIPRESCI Award - Special Mention Fénix Awards Best Documentary Tempestad Ariel Awards Best Picture Best Director Best Original Screenplay Best Documentary Feature Best Film Editing Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Prayers for the Stolen Un Certain Regard - Special Mention San Sebastián International Film Festival Horizontes Latinos RTVE Otra Mirada Award Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Next Generation Award Forqué Awards Best Latin-American Film Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding First-Time Feature Film Director Satellite Awards Best Foreign Language Film Independent Spirit Awards Best International Film Palm Springs International Film Festival Young Cineastes Award FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film Best Ibero-American Film Platino Awards Best Director Ariel Awards Best Picture Best Director Best Adapted Screenplay Goya Awards Best Ibero-American Film Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Plaque The Echo Berlinale Documentary Film Award Encounters Award: Best Director