Quinceañera

The Quinceañera is the traditional Mexican celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday and subsequent graduation into womanhood, but one young lady has beaten the party to the punch. Magdalena gets kicked out of the house when her Catholic parents learn she is pregnant; forced to turn her attentions from party dresses and limousines, she finds refuge with a great-uncle and gay cousin who have been similarly shunned. This film was shot in family homes throughout the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, a longtime Latino community, and the casting of actual neighborhood residents brings authenticity to what is already a spirited story. That might help to explain how Quinceañera walked away from the Sundance Film Festival this year with both the grand jury prize and the audience award.