Magdalena makes a journey to find her son, who has disappeared on his way to the Mexican border with the United States. Her odyssey takes her to meet Miguel, a man recently deported from the US. They start to travel together, Magdalena looking for her son, and Miguel hoping to see his mother again.

A lacerating examination of Mexico’s war on drugs, this piercing drama is the astonishing debut from Fernanda Valadez. Eschewing shock tactics for a perpetual howl of rage and sorrow, Identifying Features sifts through the detritus of a national tragedy, eking brutal poetry from its moral ruins.