Aurora

Thoughtfully, lovingly, Aurora tells the story of an unwanted pregnancy. Alongside her work as an architect, 40-year-old Luisa gives inspirational creative workshops to children. One day, she comes across 17-year-old Julia by the school toilets; it turns out she has unintentionally become pregnant. Luisa decides to help her – in the process manoeuvring herself into a difficult position somewhere between friend, teacher and mother figure. Or does she secretly enjoy playing this role? In this film, director Paz Fábrega, who won a Tiger Award at IFFR in 2010 for her debut Agua fría de mar, focuses on the faces of the two protagonists, managing to capture their emotions – or in Julia’s case the unfathomability of these – in a single look. The scenes at the school, where children enthusiastically draw and make things under Luisa’s inspiring guidance, contrast with Luisa’s silent apartment, where she works alone on a choreography that she just can’t seem to finish. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)