THE DESERT WITHIN (DESIERTO ADENTRO) Narrative Competition

Rodrigo Pio sets this compelling moral and spiritual fable during one of Mexico’s bloodiest periods . In the late 1920 s, the revolutionary socialist government attempted to outlaw the Catholic Church, making the performance of religious rituals illegal and punishable by death . Elias, a devout peasant hoping to help his wife while she suffers through childbirth, demands the attention of a ,priest, and unwittingly encourages a terrible act of violence to occur in his town of San Isidro. Elias has a vision that his children will die prematurely as punishment for his actions. Driven to near madness by his guilt, he takes his family, including Aureliano, the sickly newborn, far into the desert to seek atonement. His project : to build a church. But only he and his children will ever see it. Like the novels of Graham Greene and the most demanding films of Tarkovsky and Dreyer, THE DESERT WITHIN critiques the cruel and unjust possibilities of severe religious practice . At the same time, Pio brings tremendous spiritual intensity to his work, leaving a visceral sense of the powers of deep faith. This fascinating second feature film by Pio, the winner of a Student Oscar as a short filmmaker, signals the arrival of a major new talent in Mexican cinema.