Peru, 1980s: Georgina and her husband Leo live in a shabby shack on the outskirts of the capital Lima. Life is hard as it is, but now but now even more so because Georgina is pregnant. When she hears of a clinic offering free maternity care, she decides to give birth there. Her new-born baby is whisked away moments after its birth, supposedly because a health check is necessary first. She can come back the next day, but when she does, both the clinic and the baby have disappeared. She immediately goes to the authorities for help, only to be endlessly referred to one department after another. In desperation she turns to a major newspaper and meets the lonely journalist Pedro. He dives into the case. Director Melina Léon, who wrote the screenplay herself, dedicated her award-winning film to her father Ismael, who researched organized child trafficking as a journalist. The black-and-white images and 4:3 format emphasize the hopelessness and bleak nature of the story.
Melina León (Peru) is a director based in Lima and New York. Her short El Paraíso de Lili won 11 awards at over 20 international festivals, including Best Latin American Film at the Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival. Her debut feature Canción Sin Nombre is inspired by a true account of child trafficking originally reported by her father.
