Sightlines · reception

How The Amazing Catfish was received

2013 · Claudia Sainte-Luce · The Amazing Catfish on Sightlines

The arc

A quiet festival darling in 2013 — it premiered at Locarno and picked up the FIPRESCI Discovery Award at Toronto — then largely slipped from view once the circuit moved on. Today it survives as a word-of-mouth recommendation among fans of Mexican cinema rather than a title anyone argues about.

Where it stands

A beloved-but-little-seen entry in the 2010s Mexican indie wave — the kind of hidden gem cinephiles pass along person to person rather than a canon fixture.

Did you know? Claudia Sainte-Luce's tiny Mexican debut was shot by Agnès Godard — Claire Denis's legendary longtime cinematographer — and Sainte-Luce has said the story is drawn from her own life, though she resisted labeling it 'based on a true story.'