The Amazing Catfish

The Amazing Catfish is a 2013 Mexican comedy-drama film, written and directed by Claudia Sainte-Luce. It stars Ximena Ayala as Claudia, a young woman who becomes a caretaker for Martha (Lisa Owen), an older matriarch dying of AIDS. The film premiered on August 10, 2013 at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won two Junior Jury Awards and was a nominee for the Golden Leopard. It had its North American premiere on September 10, 2013 at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and was named winner of the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize. Plot Claudia is a young woman who lives alone and works at a supermarket. One night, she awakens with severe abdominal pain from appendicitis and checks herself into the hospital. In the hospital bed beside hers lays an older woman named Martha, who is being tended to by her children: the eldest, Alejandra "Ale," the second eldest, Wendy, and the school-aged Mariana and Armando. Martha strikes up a conversation with Claudia and the two form a connection. Martha and Claudia are discharged from the hospital at the same time and Martha insists that they drive Claudia to their home to recover from her appendectomy. Claudia eats dinner with the family, but the meal ends early when Wendy must help Martha to the bathroom where she vomits up her food. Wendy and Ale proceed to take Martha to the hospital. Claudia is forced to spend the night, as Ale has locked the door for fear that Claudia would steal from them.