SXSW Film Preview: Sin Nombre

On the roof of a box car somewhere between Tegucigalpa, Honduras and the southern tip of Texas, two people, who’s fates will ultimately entwine, are seeking the exact opposite goal. Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a young Honduran woman, is riding the rails with her long-estranged father, who was recently deported from the U.S., and her uncle, on their way to the mythical land of New Jersey, where a family she has never met awaits her arrival and the return of their patriarch. Willy (Edgar Flores), hailing from Tapachula, Chiapas, is fleeing the only family he’s ever known: the Mara Salvatrucha, a gang that he no longer wishes to be a part of that dictated a life he can no longer lead.

The stories of these two families collide in Sin Nombre, the first feature film from Writer/Director Cary Joji Fukunaga, which will screen as part of the Spotlight Premier category of SXSW. As anyone who grew up in Texas, or any of the border states, can tell you, the people of southern and central America who dare to dream of a life above that determinate line in the sand will risk everything that they have to provide a better life for themselves and their family.

As the wheels barrel northward on their certainly tragic tracks, our hope is that these two wayward souls find what they are seeking, be it the creation or severance of ties, and that they escape the fate that has befallen so many unnamed immigrants on their way to our country. For some reason, our gut tells us that everything will not go as planned.

Sin Nombre, which debuted at Sundance, will screen Sunday, March 15th, at the Paramount. For more information, check out the SXSW Film Festival schedule.