Vanilla (2025)

Mayra Hermosillo | Mexico | 2025 | 96 min | NC16 (Sexual Violence) Eight-year-old Roberta bears witness to her family of seven spirited women dealing with the threat of having their house repossessed. In 1980s Mexico, Roberta receives a letter that orders her aunt to pay off the debt on their rented house or have it repossessed, setting off a frenzy among their multi-generational family. With her unflinching and gentle gaze, she observes how each of the women reacts to this news, using her camera to capture her unconventional family’s trials, triumphs and joys. As the repayment date looms ever closer and the adults in her family scramble for ways to earn extra income, Roberta makes innocent attempts to help them weather this catastrophe. Vanilla begins as an exploration of womanhood, and soon shifts into a story simultaneously personal and all-embracing, like a warm hug from an aunt you dearly missed.