Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes

The story of a young woman clinging on to her dream to become a beauty contest queen in a Mexico dominated by organized crime.

Heated tempers, frustrated desires and dashed hopes plague a diverse group of individuals whose lives cross paths in Mexico City. There is the bar-owner's son, Chava, who yearns to emigrate to America. A poor barber, Abel, is madly in love with the gorgeous Alma, who eventually becomes a high-class prostitute. Finally, there is Susanita, the desperate spinster who pursues many love affairs in hopes of finding a husband.

In the Mexican-Guatemalan border, young teenage lovers, Sabina and Jovany, both Hondurans, accidentally meet again after some years without seeing each other. She plans to get to the United States and dreams about being a great singer; he commits all the required atrocities to be accepted by the gang: la Mara Salvatrucha. Sabina and Jovany crashed with the most adverse conditions at the border like white slavery, the Mexican and American migratory agents Burrona and Patrick, the brothel matron Doña Lita, Don Nico the Mexican Consul in Tecún Umán, the drug trafficking networks, the army and la Mara Salvatrucha.

Set amidst the 1999 student strikes in Mexico City, this coming-of-age tale finds two brothers venturing through the city in a sentimental search for an aging legendary musician. Shot in black-and-white, Güeros brims with youthful exuberance.

Gerardo is deeply in love with longtime lover Jonas. When Jonas falls for a stranger he met at a local nightclub, heartbroken Gerardo soon seeks solace in the arms of Sergio. Despite other interests, Gerardo and Jonas can't bring themselves to end it.

In Sonora, Mexico. Jeremías, an eight year old, who finds out he is a gifted child initiates a journey of self discovery. When an opportunistic physiologist makes contact with Jeremías, a new world of experiences open up to him but at the expense of being away from the family he loves. Jeremías must choose between this exciting but lonely new world he finds himself in or returning home to his loving family.

Five men are hired to paint the yellow line the road between two villages in Mexico forgotten. Aboard an old pickup truck, initiated the work of more than two hundred kilometers of asphalt and yellow paint to be completed in less than a fortnight

Heli must try and protect his young family when his 12-year-old sister inadvertently involves them in the brutal drug world. He must battle against the drug cartel that have been angered as well as the corrupt police force.

Gerardo, a 17-year old guy has just finished his relationship with Bruno and starts wandering hopeless through the streets of the city. In his wandering he's tortured by images: each masculine body he sees reminds him of his lover. Gerardo is determined to keep what's left of his dying love. The only comfort he has is a letter that Bruno left him with his boss.

Lucia, an children's book author, tells the story of her husband's disappearance. One day on their way to Brazil he just disappears. She goes to the police, gets a ransom note, and makes friends with the old dude downstairs and the young dude upstairs as she tries to find him. Things take a bit of a twist as she realized the kidnapping may not be as simple as it seems on the surface.

Tells the story behind an assassination attempt perpetrated in 1897, by a dipsomaniac man, against the President of the Mexican Republic, General Porfirio Diaz.

The legendary life of Mexican singer Lucha Reyes is the basis of this fictionalized biography ( or as director Arturo Ripstein puts it "an imaginary biography"). Lucha Reyes was an unconventional, and sexually liberated woman, most famous for her "cancion ranchera" style singing. Her story begins in 1939, where at 33 she still lived at home with her mother, Dona Victora, the madame of a renowned Mexico City whorehouse. Lucha marries the liberal Pedro Calderon and then buys a beggar's daughter. She becomes the mother to this child, Luzma. Lucha craves lasting love like junkies crave heroin. But for her loyal daughter, she never finds it and in the end no one can help her.

During 1950, Miguel Contreras Torres led a group of filmmakers to officially denounce William O. Jenkins' monopoly on film theaters, which was built throughout the country upon crime and corruption. Ever since, Uncle Miguel was ridiculed and eventually forgotten, but it is certain that his proclaim announced the separation of Mexican cinema and its audience. Discoveries may be found in the films made by Miguel, and bringing back to life these moving pictures might recover this history that was never told, a story that is almost lost and that Contreras Torres himself tried to pass on through his writings in The Black Book of Mexican Cinema.

Two wrestlers decide to go to a hotel in order to meet two prostitutes.

Nacho, a 13 year old boy, crosses the threshold of adolescence trying to find his place in life in all the wrong places: a dysfunctional family and a social setting that is corrupt and violent. Can the purity of first love survive the darkest aspects of our society?

Years after the Salvadoran military destroyed the village of Cinquera in that country’s civil war, survivors have returned to rebuild their community. Soulful, beautifully rendered, this amazing debut is an evocative testament to place, memory and the power of life to rebound from tragedy.

When four women move into an old house left by one woman's aunt, strange things begin to happen. Bizarre voices, visions of ghosts, and mysterious noises lead them to discover the darkest powers of evil and a horror and agony beyond terror.

Ceci, a seven year old girl, has to keep a huge secret, but she doesn't completely understand what is the secret about. The life of her family depends on her silence. But what exactly must she keep silent about? Ceci and her mom live hidden from military repression in Argentina. Ceci asks herself: what must she say? What should she really believe and do in order to deserve the love of her mother and others?

Inside the elevators of the oldest multi-family residential building in Latin America, life goes by quickly. Bodies and stories crowd together in front of the elevator operators’ eyes in the small metal box. Elevator operators are spectators, guardians and confidants. They are the ones who know the living history of the buildings.