I CARRY YOU WITH ME World Cinema

Following the film, AFI FEST Senior Programmer Claudia Puig leads a conversation between filmmaker Heidi Ewing and actor Armando Espitia.

Realism and romanticism come together artfully in this poignant, decades-long story. Ivan (Armando Espitia) and Gerardo (Christian Vazquez) fall in love and must face homophobia, racism and injustice, while weathering the perils of undocumented immigration. Documentarian Heidi Ewing’s first narrative feature cleverly incorporates her non-fiction background, weaving in the real-life couple with the actors who play them in a lyrical, non-linear fashion. Clear-eyed and tender in equal measure, the film moves with fluidity and grace from the slower rhythms of Puebla, Mexico, to bustling New York City. Gerardo and Ivan face a series of hurdles in the course of their relationship. Comparisons can be made to TREE OF LIFE and MOONLIGHT in the way this sweeping saga glides forward and back in time, through memories and over hardships to the ultimate transcendence of love.
–Claudia Puig