The Chambermaid

This masterful micro-level narrative plays out in its entirety on a fashionable hotel in Mexico City. Eve works there as a chambermaid, but the film portrays her as something more than a surpressed worker. She is not even very good at her job: she daydreams during work hours, she has popcorn for lunch, and looks down on the window cleaners. Still, Eve dreams of climbing the social ladder in the capitalist society she is part of, and she must fight her colleague Miriam about the vacant position as a cleaner on the 42nd floor, where the pay is higher and the rooms are nicer. The Chambermaid portrays their rivalry, and Eve's relations to the guest at the hotel, through scenes where glances and gestures is just as imporant as the plot and dialogue.

Lila Aviles (b. 1982) is one of the bravest new voices of Mexican cinema. Her background is in stage theatre, as an actor and instructor of plays and opera. Avilés self-financed her debut feature The Chambermaid and shot it in just 17 days. It screened at the prestigious Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals last fall.