Natalia Lopez Gallardo is celebrating her first gem…

The Mexican-Bolivian writer, editor and occasional actress’ feature directing debut Robe of Gems has officially screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

Set in the countryside of Mexico, the film sees the fates of three women collide when the case of a missing person leads them on a path of pain and redemption.

Robe of Gems stars Nailea Norvind, Daniel García and newcomers Antonia Olivares and Aida Roa.

In the midst of divorce, Isabel (Norvind) settles in the countryside where she discovers that her housekeeper María (Olivares) has a missing sister. When Isabel offers her help, an unspoken pact to find the missing one is born between the two women. Meanwhile, Roberta (Roa), the local police commander, hopes to rescue her son from the criminal underworld, and ends up crossing paths with Isabel and María. Their destinies come together in a world of confusion and abandonment where, despite it all, the human spirit to rebel against misfortune persists.

López Gallardo’s editing credits include films by Lisandro Alonso, Carlos Reygadas and Amat Escalante. She also heads the high-end post-production studio Splendor Omnia, located near Mexico City.

As a director, her short film In Heaven as it is On Earth was selected for Critics’ Week at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

She says Robe of Gems is about “what we carry inside after years of accumulating, in our minds and dreams, infinite images of torture. Maps of clandestine graves, faces of missing people, homicides of men and women alike. My desire is to refer to a spiritual wound and its psychological dimension — the one that is not visible.”