Nicaraguan filmmaker Laura Baumeister’s moving study of a mother and daughter scraping out a living next to a landfill was a standout at the Discovery programme at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Lilibeth and eleven-year-old María are struggling to make ends meet near La Chureca, the largest landfill in Nicaragua. María’s childhood is marred by her responsibility to help her mother eke out a living scavenging in the landfill and taking care of a litter of puppies to be sold. When their situation suddenly turns precarious, Lilibeth is forced to resolve problems on her own and leaves young María with friends who run a sweatshop. But headstrong María cannot stand to be separated from her mother and runs away and into a maelstrom of poverty and violence. The first narrative feature directed by a Nicaraguan woman, Daughter of Rage is an instant classic, a searing portrait of lower-class life and the unbreakable spirit of children. “[A]n assured, compassionate and admirably clear-eyed feature debut.” –Jonathan Holland, Screen Daily
Director Biography
Laura Baumeister was born in 1983 in Managua and studied at Mexico’s Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica. She is the director of the short films “Lagunas” (2014), “Isabel in Winter” (2014), “Fuerza bruta” (2016), and “Winter Navel” (2018). Daughter of Rage (2022), is her feature debut.