Rita

Synopsis

Seville, summer 1984. Seven-year-old Rita lives in a humble working-class neighborhood with her parents and little brother. Through the sensorial experience of the textures of everyday life, Rita experiences the world around her: the oppressive heat, the tense air in the apartment, her father’s anger, a crash from the next room, her mother’s hushed phone calls in the kitchen, the strange purple marks around her mother’s eye. As Rita begins to sense the rising danger at home, she retreats farther into her imagination — until she is forced to awaken from her innocence.

Legendary Spanish actress Paz Vega (Sex and Lucía) lends a powerful performance as Rita’s mother, and also emerges as a director to watch through her delicate and poignant portrayal of the young girl’s interiority. Rita is a deeply personal and moving exploration of domestic violence as experienced through the eyes of a child.