The Awakening of the Ants

Antonella Sudasassi’s debut feature portrays the life of Isa (Daniela Valenciano), a young seamstress who lives on the economic margin with her husband and two young daughters. Her husband wants another baby, and Isa does not. The Awakening of the Ants is a diary of a woman’s quiet struggle to take control over her own life.

Ants is given its power by the tempered realism with which Isa’s life is portrayed. The intense mood Sudassasi maintains throughout is propelled by Daniela Valenciano’s restrained performance. Its understated but intricate imagery speaks to the mundanity of domestic desperation.

The Awakening of the Ants was Costa Rica’s official submission to the 92^nd Academy Awards in the category Best International Feature Film. It forms part of a transmedia project on the various stages of the lives of women – building on a short film entitled The Awakening of the Ants: Childhood (2016) about adolescence, Ants explores young adulthood, with a third instalment in the works, a documentary about the sexuality of women after 65.

Elisabeth Aslesen

Director

Antonella Sudasassi (b. 1986) is an award-winning Costa Rican filmmaker, whose feature debut is The Awakening of the Ants. Born in San José, she studied Media Management and Audiovisual Production at the University of Costa Rica. Her focus is drawn to female identity and the subtleties of women’s social struggle.