Mexico

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In an attempt to spice up an ordinary Friday night, three wealthy young men naively cross into a precarious part of Mexico City. What they discover is an astonishing reality hidden within their sheltered world and friendships with people they would not have otherwise met. As the night plays out, each must confront his lifestyle; Rodrigo escapes from his overbearing mother and bodyguards, Juan grapples with deceiving men, and Christian tangles with a stripper.

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Winner - Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award

Children will thrive, even under the most challenging of circumstances.

Just miles from the U.S. border lies a huge garbage dump in Tijuana. Within this dump is a community which Mother Teresa described as ?one of the world?s most destitute.? But this is NOT a story of despair and hopelessness.

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Hemingway wrote that September was "the month when the great fish come. Anyone can be a fisherman in May." Juan faces similar tests of his choices in life in Jos? Luis Garc?a AgrazÕs haunting The Mystery of the Trinidad. Already in a funk as an unsatisfied physician, Juan is forced to come to terms with the double life of his recently deceased father - an undersea treasure hunter who had two families, one of which Juan was never allowed to contact.

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After winning several awards at international film festivals, director Ignacio Ort?z Cruz's critically applauded Bedtime Fairy Tales for Crocodiles arrives at Cinequest to wow audiences with its unique vision of life and death in Mexican territory. Upon learning that his father may be dying, Arcangel hurries back to his crumbling childhood home in a remote part of Mexico. Though suffering from insomnia and in danger of losing his family and career, he is determined to see him one last time. What he finds is not just a path to his past, but to the history of his family and country.

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Heartbreaking and profoundly moving, Maryse Sistach's Violet Perfume (Nobody Hears You) captures both the pain of its characters as well as their beauty and unyielding spirit-in a world where these qualities should, seemingly, not exist. Setting her sights on the mounting problem of sexual assault in Mexico City, Sistach fictionalizes the true story of a friendship between two adolescent girls, torn apart when one of them is viciously raped. Rebellious tomboy, Yessica, is frequently in trouble.

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Tolin is the biggest television variety show in Mexico, and its host, famous comedian and conductor, Salvador, is one of the most beloved people in the country. It's lucky then that Pancho and Emilio, two brothers who lead a small gang of thieves, choose Salvador's taxi to rob. Recognizing the star, Pancho immediately sees an opportunity for lots of cash. For Emilio, it's the opportunity for his dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian to come to fruition. The once simple mugging soon turns into a more complicated case of kidnapping.

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It is the future. Controversial singer, Francisco Ruiz, seems a shoe-in for president. But there are some who would give their lives to stop that from happening. Pachito Rex, It's Not Over Until It's Over is the sum of numerous stories that revolve around the assassination attempt of Francisco Ruiz, a man who maintains his status as the much beloved candidate, destined to win the presidential election of a small, imaginary Latin-American country.

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Otilia is a sensuous woman with a gorgeous body. An enormous birthmark, however, mars her face-leading to scorn and rejection by all the men in her small village. That is, all except for Melquiades, her one true friend, a slow hulk of a man, employed by her family, who has always loved Otilia just the way she is. Embarrassed by the attention paid to his daughter's body and the ridicule given to her face, Otilia's father arranges for her to marry the local police chief.

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Marina Flores, 1990; Norma Aguilar, 1991; Maria del Rosario Gomez, 1993; Olgo Carrillo, 1995; These are the names of young women, many working in the maquiladoras - assembly plants that line the Mexican-American border near Ciudad Juarez. All slender, dark-skinned, and long-haired, they begin to disappear in 1990. Victims of brutal rapes, their bodies, sometimes just skeletons surrounded by remnants of clothing, are discovered months and years later. A young woman who has escaped abduction accuses Sharif Sharif, an Egyptian. But after his arrest, the disappearances continue.

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"They say hearts were made to be broken. Maybe because living in a large city is not an easy thing. Sometimes you're out of work, sometimes they break your soul."