UNDER A SPELL (UN EMBRUJO) Latin Cinema Series

In 1920s Mexico, 13-year-old Eliseo dreams of escaping his hometown and his impoverished, domineering father. lncreqsingly alienated by his father’s rough manner, Eliseo seeks refuge at the home of his teacher, Felipa, who is unfulfilled by her clandestine affair with Bruno. What begins as two lonely people finding comfort in one another becomes Eliseo’s initiation into love. Later, Bruno’s body washes up on the beach and a rumor spreads that Felipa is a witch. The town’s antagonism increases when Felipa’s relationship with Eliseo is exposed, with life-altering consequences for all concerned.

With a remarkable visual style, Carlos Carrera gives us a complex coming-of.age story, interwoven .with the political backdrop of revolutionary and post-revolutionary Mexico. UNDER A SPELL is as much an absorbing portrait of time and place as it is of character.