We Are Mari Pepa

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Alex has big plans for his summer in Guadalajara. He hopes to get a girlfriend, make money with a new job, learn a new song with his band, Mari Pepa, and win the upcoming ”battle of the bands” concert. His summer expectations quickly become impossible to fulfill as he realizes everything in his life is shifting. Increasingly worried about his deteriorating grandmother, Alex realizes he must learn to deal with loneliness and begin to say goodbye to his innocence.

Armed with a full cast of local untrained actors and based on the director/writer’s personal memories, Somos Mari Pepa is a love letter to, and a voyage through, the alleys and garages of Atemajac, Jalisco. Establishing director Samuel Kishi Leopo as a new, exciting voice in independent Mexican cinema, the film skillfully and comically captures the breakdown of adolescent rebellion in a period in which boys are forced to become men. - AFI Fest

"A gently endearing portrait of four amiable Mexican teenagers feeling their way toward adulthood." - Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

"Samuel Kishi Leopo makes an appealing feature debut with this tender, pitch-perfect coming-of-ager." - Alissa Simon, Variety

"Kishi Leopo demonstrates a good eye for youth culture and the foibles of adolescence and manages to imbue his characters with an infectious and youthful spirit that the young actors, all encoring, unaffectedly get across in their characterizations." - Bouyd Van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter

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Main credits

Kishi Leopo, Samuel (film director)
Kishi Leopo, Samuel (screenwriter)
Gallardo, Alejandro (actor)
Ramirez, Arnold (actor)
Galindo, Moisés (actor)
Iñiguez, Petra (actor)
Andrade Muñoz, Rafael (actor)
Gómez Córdova, Sofía (screenwriter)
Rodríguez, Antonio (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, Octavio Arauz; editing, Jordi Capó, Carlos Espinoza; music, Kenji Kishi.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

music,punk,teenage,adolescent,coming of age,classic films,cult films,film degree,film major,media studies,film and media studies,film and television studies,film production studies,cinema studies,film history,cinema history,black and white films,silent films,talkies,film music,film accompaniment,early cinema,early 20th century cinema,birth of cinema,birth of color cinema,technicolor,kinemacolor,magic lantern,camera obscura,economics,social class,money,capital,capitalism,class,economy,prejudice,intersectionality,inequality,poverty,income gap,wage gap,class warfare,elitism,snobbery,bourgeois,poverty,upper class,middle class,lower class,nouveau riche,family,kin,fellowship,household,immediate family,extended family,multigenerational family,multigenerational household,kinfolk,family tree,genealogy,nuclear family,modern family,family tree,health,healthy,physical health,mental health,emotional health,health equity,public health,health care,health policy,fitness,veracity,welfare,soundness,aging,age,old age,senior,youth,middle age,aging gracefully,advanced age,collective health,maturity,music,tune,melody,hymn,harmony,popular music,rock music,latin music,latinx music,latino music,spanish music,modern music,folk music,soul music,ibero-american music,latin american music,celtic music,flamenco,spanish classical music,classical spanish music,musicals,film musicals,movie musicals,musical films,spanish pop,latin pop,latin pop music,spanish pop music,child,children,childhood,kid,girl,girlhood,boy,boyhood,teen,teenager,puberty,adolescence,adolescent,coming-of-age,minor,kiddo,kids,juvenile,stripling,moppet,tyke,tween,tot,toddler,sonny,girlie,underaged,dependent,youngster,infancy,babyhood,girlhood,boyhood,friendships,juvenescence,juvenility,springtime,early life; "We Are Mari Pepa"; Pragda Films