Netflix unveils Mothers of Plaza de Mayo biopic Villaflor

Netflix unveiled on Friday new pictures and the plot of Villaflor, a film about the true story of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo founder Azucena Villaflor and infamous dictatorship torturer Alfredo Astiz, who kidnapped her after infiltrating the group. The release included new stills from the film directed by Santiago Mitre (Argentina, 1985). In one of them, two of the main characters appear in a car, parked in front of the offices of the Buenos Aires Herald, where mothers of the disappeared gathered to denounce the abduction of their children.  The newspaper, which at the time was under the direction of Robert Cox, was the only news outlet in Argentina that reported on the disappearance of people during the military dictatorship.  Both Cox and Herald reporter Andrew Graham-Yool were forced to exile after their families were threatened by the military.   Camille Cottin and Peter Lanzani in Villaflor The film, which stars Verónica Llinás as Azucena Villaflor and Peter Lanzani (Argentina, 1985) as Alfredo Astiz, finished shooting on Friday, after 12 weeks, in several locations in the Buenos Aires area.  The cast also includes Soledad Villamil, who starred in Argentina’s Oscar winning film The Secret in Their Eyes, and French actress Camille Cottin, who plays Alice Domon, one of the two French nuns who collaborated with the Mothers and were kidnapped by the dictatorship.  Verónica Llinás as Azucena Villaflor The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo were a group of Argentine women who began gathering in 1977 to demand information about their children, who had been forcibly disappeared by the military dictatorship. By marching weekly in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo, they became the most visible symbol of resistance to state repression and one of the most notorious human rights organizations in the country. The plot According to Netflix’s statement, the film is “a political thriller that blends espionage and historical drama”, following two stories in 1977 that move in opposite directions. One of the storylines follows “Rubio” (Lanzani), a Navy lieutenant assigned to infiltrate the Santa Cruz Church, where a group of relatives has begun organizing to demand answers about their disappeared loved ones.  Peter Lanzani as Alfredo ‘Rubio’ Astiz The other features Azucena Villaflor (Llinás), who transforms the search for her son into “an act of collective resistance” against the military dictatorship. “As ‘Rubio’ earns the trust of French nun Alice Domon and later that of Azucena, the film simultaneously depicts the emergence of an unprecedented form of civil resistance against state terrorism and the infiltration operation designed to destroy it,” reads the statement.  Villaflor will be released on Netflix in 2027.