Oscilloscope has released a trailer for Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s debut feature, “Clara Sola,” which was up for the Caméra d’Or Award at Cannes last year, and was Costa Rica’s official entry in the International Feature category at this year’s Academy Awards.

The film tells the story of Clara (Wendy Chinchilla Araya), a 40-year-old religious healer who lives under the thumb of her commanding mother (Flor María Vargas Chavez) in their remote village in Costa Rica. As Clara’s young niece, Maria (Ana Julia Porras Espinoza), readies for her quinceañera, Clara begins to undergo a sexual and mystical awakening.

The preview draws attention to Clara’s relationship with the natural world and her strong connection to her rainforest environs. In one shot, she seemingly breathes life into a beetle, a recurring figure.

Álvarez Mesén explained to us in an interview that she and co-writer Maria Camila Arias were “drawn to a mix of the many elements and themes that [shape] the world that Clara inhabits. There was Clara, inhabiting the space between the honesty and magic of nature and the more restrictive ‘human world’ that demands for her to play a specific role, far away from her true self.” She added, “we were also interested in how patriarchal norms were inherited from generation to generation disguised as tradition, even in households where no men were present. This sad phenomenon is one of the reasons the script came to be.”

Álvarez Mesén is the writer-director of a number of short films including the award winning “Filip.”

Arias’ previous screenwriting credits include the feature film “Birds of Passage” and episodes of Netflix’s Colombian crime thriller “Frontera Verde” (“Green Frontier”).

“Clara Sola” is scheduled for a July 1 theatrical release.