ABEL Gala

This is the story of a 9-year-old boy whose confounding behavior and refusal to speak have landed him in a mental-health facility near his home. Hoping for a miracle and convinced that a reunion with his brother and sister might help his condition, his single mother persuades his doctor to release him for a week so that he can come home. When Abel returns home, due to the absence of his father, he becomes the unorthodox paternal figure who brings the family together. Diego Luna returns to AFI FEST with his feature directorial debut, a strange, comical fable of a mother’s unconditional love and a child faced with the trauma of an absent parent. With an assured and tender hand, Luna constructs a delicate, unforgettable metaphor of the hardships facing the contemporary Mexican family.