Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #26. Lila Avilés’ Totem

Published on January 13, 2022

Totem

As highlighted in our countdown there are many reasons to be excited for the new year in Mexican and new auteur cinema when we factor in the likes of Alejandra Márquez Abella (#50) and David Zonana (#51) – and here is one more reason. Lila Avilés blasted onto the scene with La camarista (The Chambermaid) — a portrait on class division and psychological death by a thousand cuts. This debut preemed in 2018 with stops at TIFF, Donostia-San Sebastián and BFI London. Supported via Rotterdam Film Fest’s Hubert Bals Funds and the Alpha Violet folks, her next project titled Totem might have gone into production during the pandemic. It’s a shot in the dark guess for a filmmaker we’re eagerly looking forward in seeing a future output from.

Gist: This is about a young girl as she navigates a world of adults and her relationship with her father.

Release Date/Prediction: If ready, we think this could fit in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).