With Lilibeth Rivas, William Castillo, Vicente Abrego, Hector Vides, Alberto Laresca
The Journey explores the human consequences of migration through the intersecting experiences of three protagonists arriving at a shelter on the Mexico–Guatemala border.
Edith, separated from her family, arrives in search of hope. She meets Leonel, a Nicaraguan migrant attempting to reunite with his wife in the United States, and Kevin, an 11‑year‑old abandoned by smugglers. Within the shelter’s microcosm, rumors and aspirations circulate among its temporary residents.
The film confronts powerful themes—identity, displacement, communal solidarity, and vulnerability within border spaces—and engages critically with structural violence and the liminal status of migrants. Director Noé Valladares employs community‑based casting and a neorealist aesthetic to foreground lived experience, making The Journey a vital contribution to contemporary Latin American migration cinema and academic discussions of border studies.
