Chile’s Maite Alberdi Re-Visits the Docu-Fiction Format in ‘A Child of My Own’

Chile’s much-lauded documentarian Maite Alberdi, after making her first fiction feature “In Her Place,” has returned to her roots with her latest opus, “A Child of My Own” (“Un hijo propio”).

Not unlike her Oscar-nominated “The Mole Agent,” Alberdi toys with the docu-fiction hybrid format, but in “Child,” she also breaks the fourth wall in some key moments.

World premiering at the Berlinale in a special presentation, “A Child of My Own” follows Alejandra who, pressured by her new husband and his family, decides to fake her pregnancy in order to please them. What starts as a simple lie grows into a complex charade, which she must sustain for months before her spouse and his kin. As the deception consumes her, Alejandra crosses an irreversible line.

Alberdi recalls that she met Alejandra while working on another project in Mexico. “When I heard her story, I found it very striking that a woman would pretend and simulate a pregnancy for such a long time. Truly, an extraordinary story, impossible to believe as fiction.”

“It makes you ponder what would lead a woman to fake a pregnancy—what that choice did to her and how she was living in such a chauvinistic environment at the time.”

Explaining what led to a docu-fiction format, Alberdi says: “When I first heard her story, I felt the best way to revisit that past was through staged scenes with actors, built from her testimony and point of view. That allowed us to enter the more traditional documentary space – interviews, observation, archival material. The two approaches intersect to accompany her over time, tracing a process that spans roughly 16 years of her life.”

“I think what the film ultimately offers is perspective – the distance of time. Over the years, she’s been able to recognize her mistakes and understand them differently, and to see more clearly where she stands today.”

Produced by Gato Grande for Netflix, “Child” was shot in Mexico with a professional cast led by Ana Celeste Montalvo Peña, Luisa Guzmán, Armando Espitia, Mayra Sérbulo, Casio Figueroa, Alejandro Porter, Mayra Batalla and Ángeles Cruz.

“We were fortunate to work with outstanding Mexican actors. It was a real challenge for them, because they weren’t creating characters from scratch – they had to spend a lot of time speaking with the real people and building from them, since midway through the film we transition to those real protagonists. It became a beautiful exercise in observation and interpretation,” she recalls.

“At first, I wanted non-professional actors, but I realized that what was required was far more complex: they had to embody people who actually exist. For that, you need truly great actors.”

About the honor of world premiering in the Berlin Film Festival, Alberdi remarks: “Berlin is a wonderful festival for dialogue. The exchange with audiences is always deeply enriching. This is a film that sparks strong debate and meaningful conversation—discussions I’m very eager to have with both viewers and the press. Berlin is the perfect space for that.”

Julián Loyola and Esteban Student, co-writers of Pablo Trapero’s “The Clan,” penned the script while Sandra Godinez (“Roma”), Carla González Vargas (Gato Grande CEO) and Maximiliano Sanguine (“Libre de reir”) produced the film.

“It has been quite a multicultural team, with Argentine screenwriters, an Argentine producer, a Chilean production designer and a Chilean cinematographer while the rest of the crew is Mexican.”

Asked whether she leans towards the documentary format, she replies: “Ultimately, I prefer working with reality; it’s where my stories begin. The form—whether fiction or documentary—matters less to me. What I care about most is working with reality as a starting point.”