Marialuisa Ernst's 'El lugar de la ausencia' Reimagines Mourning as Political Act

In her hybrid essay-documentary 'El lugar de la ausencia' (2025), filmmaker Marialuisa Ernst confronts the legacy of forced disappearance and migration across the Americas. The film, which premiered in New York in 2025, is structured in two sections: one explores the personal impact of her uncle's kidnapping during Argentina's dictatorship, focusing on her mother, exiled in Bolivia, and Ernst's own life as a migrant in New York with her daughter. The other follows the Caravana de Madres Centroamericanas over four years, documenting mothers searching for disappeared migrants in Mexico and the United States. Ernst highlights two stories: Anita, searching for her son since 2002, and Leti, who found her daughter after fourteen years. The film positions itself within a matrilineal ethics of care, countering the spectacle of violence that centers on perpetrators. It draws on rituals, archival material, and forensic imagery to materialize absence. Ernst's work is compared to films by Lourdes Portillo, Patricio Guzmán, Tatiana Huezo, and Albertina Carri, and to 'Aún estoy aquí' (2024) by Walter Salles. The review, published by La Tempestad, argues that the film offers an alternative to the morbid fascination with torturers, advocating for justice rooted in love and communal care.