Screenwriter: Anouk Moyaux

Producer: Helen Olive

Co-Presented by El Cine

After several years’ absence, Gibran, a 37-year-old Mexican-American, returns to Los Angeles with the goal of saving up to purchase land in Tecate, the village where he was born in Mexico. As he organizes his departure, he rediscovers the emotional and historical ties that bind him to the United States.

Among the most beautiful recent films about Los Angeles, French director Anouk Moyaux deftly blends documentary and naturalism to paint a lilting, utopian city-symphony, a slacker portrait of urban sprawl as seen through the eyes of its Mexican residents. With plans to move back to his hometown of Tecate, Gibran spends his long goodbye hanging out with friends, earning extra cash and idling away in the city’s hills and valleys for the last time. With luminous 16mm photography of East L.A., Moyaux’s film is a vibrant outsider’s-view of the immigrant experience told without sentimentality or didacticism, and the rare L.A. movie to let the city speak for itself. -MG

Los Angeles Festival of Movies

Los Angeles Festival of Movies (LAFM) presented by Kino Film Collection and Mezzanine is a curated annual film festival in Los Angeles, showcasing new independent and restoration premieres to a local audience.

Now in its third year, the festival redefines Los Angeles as a destination for independent film. LAFM has curated a selection of high profile narrative and documentary film premieres; talks with local artists, luminaries, and thought leaders; and parties each night, across four east side LA venues.