Mexico

Tijuana is a city of walls, both visible and invisible. Lidia works as a housekeeper for a wealthy woman whose only concern is for her prize pooch Princess. Rafael works as a janitor in a light bulb factory. A meagre retirement looms menacingly in front of each of them. Silently and surreptitiously, they begin a battle: Rafael against a company that seeks to deny him his due and Lidia against the whim of an employer who places a dog’s well-being above her own. A carefully paced, darkly comic and intricately woven story that is both mesmerizing and quietly devastating.

Deep in the sun-blistered Sonora desert beneath a cicada tree, border police discover a decomposing male body. Lifting a tattered T-shirt, they expose a tattoo that reads “Dayani Cristal.” Who is this person? What brought him here? And who–or–what is Dayani Cristal? Following a team of dedicated staff from the Pima County Morgue in Arizona, director Marc Silver seeks to answer these questions and return an identity to this anonymous person.

Using as a starting point a 1911 ethnographic film by Swedish explorer Erland Nordenskiöld, a Bolivian filmmaker and a Guaraní guide travel together through the forests of southeastern Bolivia with the intention of making a film about the Guaraní people. Each man creates and interprets his own character, walking the thin line between documentary, fiction and performance. The journey not only takes them to the interior of the country but to their own inner selves, as they seek to define their identities within a country undergoing enormous social, political and historical change.

Alex, a 16-year-old teenager who lives with his grandmother in Guadalajara, has various plans for the summer: writing a new song with his punk rock band, finding a job and having his first sexual experience. He has also become aware that his grandmother is starting to become increasingly dependent on him. As summer draws on, Alex realizes that things are going to change forever and that he will have to grow up and learn to say goodbye.

Pachuca, 1956. Brothers Arturo and Gustavo Martínez leave their hometown in central Mexico with the desire to cross the continent on bicycles. Eighty-two days and 5,600 km later, they arrive in Toronto, not knowing that this journey will change the entire route of their lives. Ever since director Andrea Martínez Crowther can remember, stories of her father and uncle’s trip have formed part of her family’s folklore.

Pachuca, 1956. Brothers Arturo and Gustavo Martínez leave their hometown in central Mexico with the desire to cross the continent on bicycles. Eighty-two days and 5,600 km later, they arrive in Toronto, not knowing that this journey will change the entire route of their lives. Ever since director Andrea Martínez Crowther can remember, stories of her father and uncle’s trip have formed part of her family’s folklore. Over half a century later, Arturo and Gustavo - now in their 70s - retrace that epic path, in an exploration of memory, the cycles of life and the unavoidable passage of time.

Amanda finds her aimless life is altered when she is forced to come to the aid of her alcoholic grandmother. Dolores is a retired actress who lives alone amongst the faded photographs of her past glory. And, as each bottle of whiskey empties, her memory slips further. Until now, Amanda has not had much of a relationship with her grandmother, and she takes on her new role of caretaker reluctantly. The obsessions of a young woman and the eccentricities of an aging one meet head-on in this artfully constructed drama that poignantly questions what it means to grow old.

Amanda finds her aimless life is altered when she is forced to come to the aid of her alcoholic grandmother. Dolores is a retired actress who lives alone amongst the faded photographs of her past glory. And, as each bottle of whiskey empties, her memory slips further. Until now, Amanda has not had much of a relationship with her grandmother, and she takes on her new role of caretaker reluctantly. The obsessions of a young woman and the eccentricities of an aging one meet head-on in this artfully constructed drama that poignantly questions what it means to grow old.

Tito, a young boy, lives on the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, but when his shoeshine box is stolen, he is left with no means of survival. Collapsed on a bench, a vision of another reality comes to him, where a mysterious woman leads him along ancient Inca paths and teaches him the ways of the ancestors. Meanwhile, the city itself explodes in a social uprising, as the indigenous population make a stand for their rights and the police answer with tear gas and bullets. Tito’s personal struggle for peace becomes a profound reflection of the need for a greater social awakening.

Tito, a young boy, lives on the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, but when his shoeshine box is stolen, he is left with no means of survival. Collapsed on a bench, a vision of another reality comes to him, where a mysterious woman leads him along ancient Inca paths and teaches him the ways of the ancestors. Meanwhile, the city itself explodes in a social uprising, as the indigenous population make a stand for their rights and the police answer with tear gas and bullets. Tito’s personal struggle for peace becomes a profound reflection of the need for a greater social awakening.