Winner of multiple awards, including the Queer Lion from the 75th Annual Venice Film Festival, José is a gripping, layered and beautifully honest story about one working-class young man’s struggle to find himself. Made in the neorealist filmmaking tradition, the film is a nuanced and vivid look at being gay in Central America.

José (magnetic newcomer Enrique Salanic) lives with his mother (Ana Cecilia Mota) in Guatemala City, where they survive on her selling sandwiches at bus stops and with him working at a local restaurant. It is a poor and sometimes dangerous country where, dominated by conservative Catholic and Evangelical Christian religion, living one’s life as an openly gay man is hard for José to imagine. His mother has never had a husband, and as her youngest and favorite child, though at the edge of manhood at 19-years old, she is determined to hold on to him. Reserved and private, José fills his free moments playing with his phone and random sex with other men arranged on street corners and dating apps. When he meets attractive and gentle Luis (Manolo Herrera), a migrant from the rural Caribbean coast, they pursue an unexpected relationship with more emotion than José has ever felt. He is thrust into new passion and pain, and self-reflection, that push him to rethink his life even as he is reluctant to take a leap of faith.

“Beautiful…stars the excellent Enrique Salanic.”-The New York Times

“With every kiss on the neck or touch of the hand, Cheng inserts muted sensuality to the love story.” – The Wrap

“A near-perfectly-observed character study with a vivid and novel sense of place.”- Roger Moore Movie Nation

“While the film’s characters are all realized by finely tuned performances, special mention must be made of Salanic for his complex and truly superb work as José.”- RogerEbert.com

“A touching debut…sexually frank in an honest, fresh fashion.”- Screen Daily

“Raw and authentic.” – Remezcla

Recent Press:

Gay Love and Traditional Connections

WLRN NPR radio interview with Enrique Salanic

Visa denied for 2nd time to Guatemalan actor for premiere of acclaimed film

Awards and Festivals:  Queer Lion at Venice Film Festival and Best Film at  Boston LGBT Film Festival, among others; and selection of Miami Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, El Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (Havana, Cuba), Outfest Los Angeles, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and many more.