Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi, who has won awards, made the bold docu-fiction hybrid A Child of My Own, which premiered at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival. It mixes true crime with emotional family drama.
The movie is about Alejandra, a woman whose family pressures her to become a mother. She fakes being pregnant in a web of lies that leads to heartbreak and revelation. Alberdi goes north of her home country to tell this personal story of love, motherhood, and lies, which is based on real events in Mexico.
Critics like its soft, true-crime fable style. The Hollywood Reporter says it’s a new direction for the The Mole Agent director. Variety says that Alberdi is back in docu-fiction, focusing on performances that are subtle and go against cultural norms.
Alberdi expertly combines documentary realism with narrative flair. She has been nominated for Oscars in the past and is now captivating audiences at Berlinale with themes of societal pressure on women.
