José

Daily life in Guatemala becomes all the more challenging if you are poor, not terribly light skinned and gay. Opportunities to make it, find love and a good job can be borderline impossible. Such is the reality in which the film’s protagonist grew up. 19-year-old José (the exceptional Enrique Salanic) lives with his single mother (Ana Cecilia Mota) in a poor, Guatemala City neighborhood. He makes a living selling food to drivers in passing cars by a workers’ restaurant where he works. Secretly, he hooks up regularly with a variety of men, that is until one encounter changes everything. Luis (Manolo Herrera) is a construction worker who has come from the countryside to the big city. The two begin a passionate affair. José must now choose between his love for Luis or a life at home with his conservative mother.
This is the first Guatemalan film to have won the prestigious Venice Film Festival prize.
Director Li Cheng brings to the big screen an original, unique point-of-view on a country where films are hardly ever made.