Maite Alberdi’s ‘A Child Of My Own’ Explores a Woman’s Struggle with Parenthood Pressure
Netflix to Debut New Documentary on August 13
Netflix has confirmed an August 13 release date for A Child of My Own (Un Hijo Propio), directed by two-time Oscar nominee Maite Alberdi. The documentary sheds light on the perplexing story of Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza, known as Ale, a young woman in Mexico who faked her pregnancy due to immense pressure from her husband and in-laws to conceive.
The film explores Ale’s elaborate deception, during which she arranged to take a newborn from an expectant mother who, unlike Ale, wanted to keep her child. The woman who gave birth later disputed Ale’s claims, stating there was no agreement to surrender her baby.
A Child of My Own is set to screen at the Doc10 festival in Chicago on Friday and at the San Francisco International Film Festival on Sunday. The documentary has already been shown at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival in Argentina and Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland, following its world premiere in February at the Berlin Film Festival. Along with its streaming release on Netflix, the film will also be available in select theaters across the U.S., UK, and Mexico.
Alberdi incorporated dramatizations into the project, casting Ana Celeste Montalvo Peña as Ale and Armando Espitia as her husband, Arturo. Espitia’s character was entirely unaware of the ruse, believing that Ale had carried a baby to term.
“It’s not fiction for me; it’s more like a recreation of her point of view,” Alberdi explained regarding the dramatized elements. She sought this creative approach partly due to the portrayal of Ale in Mexican news media as merely a baby thief, emphasizing the need to provide a more nuanced narrative. "It was so organic a way to tell this story because [previously] we were [seeing] only one vision and one version at that point."
In the documentary, Alberdi examines how a seemingly simple lie spirals into an elaborate charade that becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, trapping Alejandra in a situation that escalates into a media scandal.
A Child of My Own marks the continuation of Alberdi’s partnership with Netflix, following her earlier documentary The Mole Agent, which was adapted into the series A Man on the Inside, featuring Ted Danson and renewed for a third season. Additionally, Alberdi’s 2024 fiction project, In Her Place, is also set to stream on Netflix.
