Score

A Mexican woman opens a children’s orchestra in hopes of saving the kids from falling prey to the drug cartel.

In 2005, Ciudad Juárez was branded as “the world’s murder capital” with an average of 13 murders a day. This led to many locals fleeing to the US or other neighboring areas. Those who remained were the poor and vulnerable who fell prey to the Cartel, most of them kids who are trained to become sicarios– hitmen.

In the midst of this violence and corruption, Alma opens the doors to a music school for poor children to give them an outlet that might stop them falling prey to the gangs who are terrorizing this city on the Texas border.

In a city where the culture of death has become a way of life, resilience and hope gives rise to the power of music.

BIOS

Jennifer Kramer
Producer, Director, Writer

I am interested in telling the stories of the forgotten, the over-looked, and the never-known. Armed with a restless curiosity and story-telling ambition, I am a champion of unsung heroes and under-told narratives. My films have garnered multiple awards, screened at top tier film festivals and streamed on major platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV. I am the recipient of  the Jerome Foundation Fellowship 2021 and Minnesota State Arts Board Grants 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024. These grants were used in part to bring film to rural communities in Minnesota.

Javier Campos
Co-Producer, Editor, Writer

I have been fascinated by cinema from a very young age. As a kid, I rented bootleg Betamax tapes of Hollywood hits from a neighbor in my small town outside of Mexico City. I have been in the film industry in Mexico for 20 years. I have edited 17 documentary feature films, in addition to a handful of Mexican television series. All of these films have been shown in festivals around the world including TRIBECA, TIFF, FIDOCS Chile, Antenna Sydney, DOKfest Muchen, and HOTDOCS Toronto. My most recently released film, “The Guardian of Memory”, won the 2020 Ariel Award for Best Documentary Feature (the Ariels is the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards).