A quirky, gently autobiographical drama about and the joys and pains of living in exile, My Mother’s Tears is clearly a labour of love for director Alejandro Cardenas-Amelio. As the film begins, Alex (Fabian Busch) travels to Buenos Aires to visit his dying father, Carlos (Rafael Ferro). When his mother Lizzie (Erica Rivas) and old family friends join him, memories begin to surface about his childhood.

The young Alex (Adrian Goessel) and his family flee the military junta in Argentina in the early ’80s and settle in West Berlin, where they live in an industrial loft with a group of artists. As Lizzie pursues a successful career, Carlos drifts from job to job and into an affair. Alex discovers he has telekinesis but decides to hide his gift until he realises he might be able to use it to save his parents’ crumbling relationship. Beautifully performed, this wholly endearing film is not a political drama but a poignant dissection of a failing marriage, seen from a child’s perspective.