COURTROOM 3H
Special Features: North American Premiere. Post-screening pre-recorded conversation with director Antonio Méndez Esparza, producer Ana Castañosa and subject Judge Sjostrom moderated by AFI Festivals Programmer Malin Kan
Inside the Tallahassee Unified Family Court, cases of abuse, abandonment or negligence are presided over with the express objective, under the law, to reunite families as quickly and safely as possible. Filtered through a courtroom professionalism and presented with an observational distance, a sequence of staggeringly emotional hearings and trials hints at the complexities of these family histories, calling into question a justice system with the power to decide who is suitable to be a parent and who is not, but that is incapable of addressing underlying societal structures and often multi-generational pain. Moving into pure nonfiction, filmmaker Antonio Méndez Esparza (LIFE AND NOTHING MORE) offers another profoundly sensitive portrait of family at the mercy of the system. –Malin Kan. DIR Antonio Méndez Esparza; PROD Pedro Hernández Santos, Rebeca Villar Rodríguez, Ana Castañosa Bielsa. Spain, 2020, Color, 115 min.
Run Time: 115 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, June 26, 2021
Genre: Documentary
