Sin Cielo: Review

23rd November 2019

In a U.S. – Mexico border town the magic of first love is cut dangerously short when a boy hustling to help his family inadvertently finds himself in the middle of a violent trafficking network after the girl he loves is kidnapped. – //sincielofilm.com/

Directed by Jianna Maarten, Sin Cielo is set in the borderlands of Mexico. It addresses the real danger of kidnapping, trafficking, and femicide in that area.

Fenessa Pineda (Rambo: Last Blood, 2019) plays Delia, and David Gurrola (the US version of Shameless, 2016) is Memo. Ordinary teenagers who, separately, find themselves quickly out of their depth.

Maarten likes to build dread into her stories (Dinner with Ana, 2013; Fervor, 2015) Bringing each element of production together into a fine balance—cinematography, editing, soundtrack—that evokes the change in air pressure before an electrical storm.

A counterbalance to the impending turmoil there is so much beauty to be found in the landscape, and the characters’ lives, captured by cinematographer Marcin Banasiak.

There is no simple answer to this for the families that live with a combination of fear, stoicism and grief. But it is evident that Sin Cielo is a call to action to fight an issue prevalent, not just in Mexico’s borderlands, but globally.

Maarten lists the names of hundreds of missing women and girls as a reminder that, though this is a fictional short, it is very much grounded in truth.

TRAILER – SIN CIELO from Salaud Morisset on Vimeo.

The film has been nominated for several awards, and has taken home the Grand Jury prize at the Seattle International Film Festival for Best Narrative Short.

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