HUACHICOLERO / THE GASOLINE THIEVES  

ARIZONA PREMIERE

Friday, April 3, 9:00pm

Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18

 

IN PERSON: DIRECTOR EDGAR NITO 

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Crime Drama

Mexico/Spain/UK/USA, 2019, 1 hr 33 mins.

Producers: Víctor Léycegui, Annick Mahnert, Joshua Sobel

Director: Edgar Nito Arrache

Writers: Alfredo Mendoza, Edgar Nito Arrache

Cinematographer: Juan Pablo Ramírez

Editors: Sam Baixauli

Cast: Eduardo Banda, Regina Reynoso, Fernando Becerril, Pascacio López, Pedro Joaquin, Leonardo Alonso, Myriam Bravo, Waldo Facco

In Spanish with English subtitles

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“Living with his mother and working as a farmhand in his hometown, fourteen-year-old Lalo (Eduardo Banda) sees buying a smartphone for his high-school crush the only surefire way into her heart. When his mother is forced to use his savings in order to pay for medical bills, Lalo decides to approach the local huachicoleros for help, who quickly enlist his aid in their business of illegally siphoning gas in order to take advantage of the country’s shortage and re-sell on the black market. As Lalo naively becomes more involved with the huachicoleros’ work, an uneasy air of violence begins to overtake the world around him, while investigators narrow their search for those responsible. Depicted in beautifully sun-drenched imagery and grounded in Banda's remarkable first on-screen performance, director Edgar Nito crafts an intensely resonant and engrossing story of the tightening grip facing both his protagonist and his country with this feature debut.”

—Tribeca Film Festival 

 

Winner, Best New Narrative Director, Tribeca Film Festival, 2019

 

A tense blend of social realism and crime drama —Variety

A crime drama that's ripped from the headlines, and it just might rip your heart out too —Film School Rejects