“Belén” is famous among Argentinian women — yet very few of them know her true identity. All is explained in Belén, a powerful and sometimes infuriating political drama written, directed by and starring triple-threat Dolores Fonzi.

Based on real events that occurred in 2014, it tells the story of a young woman who is rushed to a hospital in the province of Tucumán after suffering stomach pains. Unaware that she is pregnant, the woman miscarries — and immediately is arrested, on only the most circumstantial evidence, for inducing an illegal abortion, a “crime” that lands her in prison for years. Fonzi herself takes the part of Soledad Deza, the lawyer who publicized the girl’s case and rechristened her Belén to protect her from reprisals from other prisoners.

The case led to a Spartacus moment in Argentina, as was documented in Ana Correa’s 2019 bestseller We Are Belén, a book that fortuitously fell into the hands of producer Leticia Casti. Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event, Cristi recalled: “I thought, ‘This story has to become a movie,’ because it has all the ingredients of a film that needs to be shown in order to shine a light on this topic. But also, our aim was to do a film that creates interest in Argentina and also internationally, not just our local audience. I also wanted to work with an Argentinian woman director to address this topic and bring all of us together as [the real Belén] did.”

RELATED: Contenders Film: International — Deadline’s Complete Coverage

Cristi took the film to Fonzi just after she’d finished her 2023 directorial debut, Blondi. “Leticia asked me to do the same job [I did on that] for this movie — the writing, the acting and directing,” Fonzi said. “And I couldn’t say no. It was, for me, like a gift.”

Fonzi gave herself the role of the crusading lawyer who laid her life on the line for Belén’s cause, and, luckily, the real-life subject was keen to cooperate.

“Soledad Deza is a very generous person,” Fonzi said. “She was very open with me all the time, in every part of the process, like the script. So I wrote to her anytime I needed, and she was there for me. She’s an easy person to be with, which made it very easy for me to — how to say? — feel her energy, to create a merger between her personality and mine. The character is a mix between her and me.”

Check back Monday for the panel video.