New York Cinema Circle | Sin Nombre | March 2009

On Wednesday, March 18, 2009, Gen Art Producer-level members and guests attended an intimate screening and reception at the Tribeca Grand Hotel for Sin Nombre, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Paulina Gaitan and Edgar Flores. the winner of the Directing Award and the Excellence in Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Writer/Director and Student Academy Award winner Cary Joji Fukunaga were in attendance to discuss his debut feature. Guests enjoyed Double Cross Luxury Vodka cocktails. Cary is an alumnus of the 2005 Gen Art Film Festival where his short film "Victoria Para Chino" won the Acura Grand Jury Prize.
Synopsis
The film tells the story of Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a teenager living in Honduras, and hungering for a brighter future. A reunion with her long-estranged father gives Sayra her only real option – emigrating with her father and her uncle into Mexico and then the United States, where her father now has a new family. Meanwhile, Casper, a.k.a. Willy (Edgar Flores), is a teenager living in Tapachula, Mexico, and facing an uncertain future. A member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang brotherhood, he has just brought to the Mara a new recruit, 12-year-old Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer), who undergoes a rough initiation. While Smiley quickly takes to gang life, Casper tries to protect his relationship with girlfriend Martha Marlene (Diana García), keeping their love a secret from the Mara. But when Martha encounters Tapachula’s Mara leader Lil’ Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), she is brutally taken from Casper forever. Sayra and her relatives manage to cross over into Mexico. There, they join other immigrants waiting at the Tapachula train yards. When a States-bound freight train arrives one night, they successfully rush to board – riding atop it, rather than in the cars – as does Lil’ Mago, who has commandeered Casper and Smiley along to rob immigrants. When day breaks, Lil’ Mago makes his move and Casper in turn makes a fateful decision. Casper must now navigate the psychological gauntlet of his violent existence and the physical one of the unforgiving Mara, but Sayra bravely allies herself with him as the train journeys through the Mexican countryside towards the hope of new lives.
Winner of the Directing Award and the Excellence in Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
View information on the fim at www.sinnombre.co.uk
New York Cinema Circle | Sin Nombre | March 2009

On Wednesday, March 18, 2009, Gen Art Producer-level members and guests attended an intimate screening and reception at the Tribeca Grand Hotel for Sin Nombre, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Paulina Gaitan and Edgar Flores. the winner of the Directing Award and the Excellence in Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Writer/Director and Student Academy Award winner Cary Joji Fukunaga were in attendance to discuss his debut feature. Guests enjoyed Double Cross Luxury Vodka cocktails. Cary is an alumnus of the 2005 Gen Art Film Festival where his short film "Victoria Para Chino" won the Acura Grand Jury Prize.
Synopsis
The film tells the story of Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a teenager living in Honduras, and hungering for a brighter future. A reunion with her long-estranged father gives Sayra her only real option – emigrating with her father and her uncle into Mexico and then the United States, where her father now has a new family. Meanwhile, Casper, a.k.a. Willy (Edgar Flores), is a teenager living in Tapachula, Mexico, and facing an uncertain future. A member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang brotherhood, he has just brought to the Mara a new recruit, 12-year-old Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer), who undergoes a rough initiation. While Smiley quickly takes to gang life, Casper tries to protect his relationship with girlfriend Martha Marlene (Diana García), keeping their love a secret from the Mara. But when Martha encounters Tapachula’s Mara leader Lil’ Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), she is brutally taken from Casper forever. Sayra and her relatives manage to cross over into Mexico. There, they join other immigrants waiting at the Tapachula train yards. When a States-bound freight train arrives one night, they successfully rush to board – riding atop it, rather than in the cars – as does Lil’ Mago, who has commandeered Casper and Smiley along to rob immigrants. When day breaks, Lil’ Mago makes his move and Casper in turn makes a fateful decision. Casper must now navigate the psychological gauntlet of his violent existence and the physical one of the unforgiving Mara, but Sayra bravely allies herself with him as the train journeys through the Mexican countryside towards the hope of new lives.
Winner of the Directing Award and the Excellence in Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
View information on the fim at www.sinnombre.co.uk




