Set in the fictional Spanish region of Thorbat, this satiric fable follows two female beggars: a mother and her daughter, Mariana. Co-director Maite Uzal plays the part of the young mother and the adult Mariana, while Isabel Ordaz plays the older mother and Úrsula Tomás plays the young Mariana.

Mariana plays with an ant hill while her mother sleeps. When the church bell tolling awakens her from her slumber, she leaps up and calls out to Mariana, “Come on, we’ll be late for begging.” From here, the two directors (Uzal and Rubén Pascual Tardío) unravel the playful streak of their film. They seek to provoke either a wry smile or a humorous chuckle from its audience at each turn. They begin a charm offensive that leaves audiences with little choice but to fall under the film’s spell.

The two women are very different. While the mother is lazy and lusts after wealth, Mariana is a grafter, with a gentle nature and affection for insexts. One day, a mysterious lady fulfils their wishes. What could possibly go wrong? To her mother’s dismay, Mariana starts behaving like an ant. Dr. Wirkönnten (Pepe Viyuela) comes into the story in order to cure the young woman of her delusion. The character adds to the comedic delights – placing slices of ham on his head as a cure for baldness. This precedes the fireworks as the doctor sits down to try and reason with Mariana, leading us towards the film’s humorous crescendo.

The town cryer, dressed in period dress, switches between different languages and announces, in keeping with the film’s surreal nature, that amendments to the criminal code will be announced on social media. Uzal shows she has the knack for witty dialogue. On the way to beg, the mother says, “We haven’t even got rage to eat”. She and Mariana pass a sign that advertises work: “Slackers needed: Excellent pay.” When Mariana asks her mother if she’d rather work than beg, her mother says, “No, child, no. I’d get tired”.

Mariana Ant is crafted with precision. It might risk confounding audiences, but it’s true to the surrealist intentions of its directors. Conceived to compete in the Desafío Buñuel film competition, it was necessary to create a film inspired by Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). Mariana Ant resembles a dream. The story makes sense until we look closer. And then it suddenly goes up in smoke.

The directors and cinematographer Ismael Issa craft a visual language that’s striking and animated. Not only do the camera movements infuse the cinematography with its own sense of humour, but the framing of shots places the small-scale intimacy on a grander scale. Just as Mariana’s human gaze looks down on the ants from a God’s eye view, so too is the fable’s world viewed or looked down on from upon high. Is this the perspective of the mighty creator, or have we entered the wild imagination of a prolific dreamer? A visceral and enigmatic experience viewing experience.

Mariana Ant premiered at the Cerdanya Film Festival 2025.