Caption by Ashmar Mandou

Mexican-born director Alejandro Andrade will debut his first feature film, “Cuernavaca” at this year’s Chicago Latino Film Festival tonight at 6:15p.m., the AMC River East. “Cuernavaca is my first feature film. It is based on my childhood memories. My grandmother had a house in the warm and tropical city of Cuernavaca. Her house had beautiful gardens, but they were surrounded by big walls always trying to keep them apart from the violence and dangers of the outside. She was also like that, always hiding things, trying to look perfect, but inside she was full of pain and anger. I use her story as a metaphor of my country, full of walls that try to separate the outside violence, but not being conscious that the real violence starts inside each one of us when our pain is too big and not attended,” said Andrade. “Cuernavaca,” is about a boy named Andy whose world changes when his mother has an accident. When there is no one to take care of him, the boy is carried to Cuernavaca to his paternal grandmother’s house. The movie deals with life and death that closely relates to Andrade’s personal experience. For more information or for tickets, visit https://chicagolatinofilmfestival.org/movie/cuernavaca/.