Rita

RITA • Jayro Bustamante’s (“Ixcanul”) new film receives a rare Chicago theatrical presentation as part of our Festival. Based one of Guatemala’s most harrowing tragedies, an orphanage fire that claimed the lives of 41 girls, the country’s official entry to the Academy Awards for Best International Feature follows Rita, a 13-year-old girl who is placed at a government-run orphanage after escaping an abusive household. The girls inside share a prophecy that an angel-like being will rescue them from the orphanage’s abusive employees. As in his “La Llorona,” Bustamante uses horror and magical realist tropes to explore his country’s dark history.