On the surface, Isa’s life seems lovely: adorable daughters, a pleasant husband. But her surrealist imaginings suggest a revolt against the pressures placed on her. Soon she finds herself awakening to her own long-suppressed sexuality and the possibilities of a life lived on her own terms.

There’s a revolution taking place in Antonella Sudasassi’s debut, but it is a quiet one. The Awakening of The Ants, Costa Rica’s Oscars® submission, explores how patriarchal oppression infects the quotidian and delicately captures, through a subtly feminist lens, the ignition of a spark of change.