In remote Costa Rica, a sheltered 40-year-old woman with healing gifts experiences a sexual and mystical awakening.

Clara has a unique connection with both the natural world (especially her family’s magical white horse, Yuca) and the divine, apparently communing with the Virgin Mary through visions. However, born with a twisted spine, she is also infantilised and exploited by her superstitious mother and the townsfolk. When the young and handsome Santiago arrives to train Yuca, he releases something inside Clara that pushes her to embrace freedom and her true self.

A Cannes Directors’ Fortnight debut and Costa Rica’s official Oscars submission, this impressive first feature from Nathalie Álvarez Mesén is propelled by the affecting authenticity of dancer Wendy Chinchilla Araya in the lead role. Often portraying Clara’s strength without words, her physically expressive performance erupts within a lush soundscape and an atmospheric, sumptuously imaginative world. Euphoric and unforgettable, Clara Sola is both a magic-realist tale of self-discovery in middle age and a critique of parochialism from an exciting new voice in world cinema.

“What gives the film a force that balances out the delicacy is a commanding, charismatic lead by Wendy Chinchilla Araya … Clara Sola is a defiant challenge to prejudice and repression.” – Screen Daily