EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Ruiz Productions and Atlas Distribution Company have set January 23, 2026, as the official nationwide release date for The Dreamer Cinderella, the highly anticipated romance drama marking Dr. Ruiz Productions’ first-ever feature film.

The partnership represents a major milestone for the emerging production company as it expands into theatrical distribution with a story that celebrates perseverance, cultural identity, and the power of dreams.

“The Dreamer Cinderella is a beautifully crafted and deeply uplifting film that captures the wonder, courage, and faith that inspire audiences of all ages,” said Harmon Kaslow, President of Atlas Distribution Company. “It’s rare to see a story that blends timeless fairytale magic with such emotional truth and authenticity. Atlas is proud to bring this extraordinary film to theaters and into the hearts of moviegoers everywhere.”

About the Film

Blending the emotional resonance of Under the Same Moon with the transformational charm of My Fair Lady, The Dreamer Cinderella centers on Xochitl, a Mexican-American street fruit vendor whose life changes when a powerful film director, Andrew Goldblum (Anthony W. Preston), makes her the subject of a risky bet with his career rival.

Xochitl, played by AnaKaren Chable. is thrust into a world far removed from her own—one she perceives as hostile. What begins as a challenge quickly becomes a clash of cultures, paving the way for new friendships, surprising rivalries, and the pain of family separation — life-altering consequences.

A feel-good, Cinderella story for the whole family, the film explores the untold stories of hardworking street vendors who are too often overlooked, with the added topics of cultural bias, self esteem, immigration, DACA, and the pain of families separated.

Director’s Statement

“We are beyond thrilled to partner with Atlas Distribution Company to bring The Dreamer Cinderella to theaters,” said Dr. Jose-Luis Ruiz, who wrote, directed, and produced the film. “This story is a love letter to the immigrant experience — to the dreamers, workers, and families whose resilience and courage often go unseen. Our goal has always been to create films that reflect real lives and inspire hope, and we can’t wait for audiences to see themselves in this story.”

Dr. Ruiz Productions is a Los Angeles–based production company dedicated to creating inspiring and culturally resonant stories that celebrate humanity, perseverance, and emotional truth. With a focus on powerful narratives and meaningful representation, Dr. Ruiz Productions continues to champion independent filmmaking with heart.

The Dreamer Cinderella opens in theaters on January 23, 2026.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Atlas Distribution to Release Dr. Ruiz Productions’ Debut Feature ‘The Dreamer Cinderella’ in Theaters January 23, 2026 first appeared on .

In 1993 punk artist Mabel Valdiviezo flees from war-torn Peru to San Francisco, CA on a tourist visa. Soon she goes from tourist to “undocumented”, living on the fringes of society, struggling to build a life. Being the artist that she is, she documented her struggles through photographic self-portraits, drawings, collages, and visual diaries. Fifteen years later, her documentary Prodigal Daughter makes its world premiere at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on Thursday, May 30th, 7:00 PM @TCL Chinese Theatre – Cinema 3

Director and producer, Valdiviezo is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work explores migration, gender equality, and healing justice. Prodigal Daughter  follows the filmmaker/artist on a poignant journey to reunite with her family in Peru after 16 years of silence.  Through Mabel’s personal story, the film reveals the struggles of immigrant women living without a safety net, exploring their challenges in staying connected with their families left behind. 

The film weaves vérité scenes with family photos that Valdiviezo transforms into vibrant mixed media “photo-paintings” to convey her emotional separation from her family and her longing for reconnection. Peruvian underground punk art blends with playful stop-motion animations, bringing to life her youth during Peru’s tumultuous 80s. 

“In this current climate, it is crucial to craft narratives that offer multifaceted portrayals of immigrant lives that mirror the richness of our communities,” Valdiviezo said.  She  emphasizes the importance of challenging the mainstream stereotypical depiction of immigrants.

Valdiviezo’s production company Haiku Films is focused on producing compelling documentaries that explore pressing issues of our times, utilizing community storytelling as a catalyst for cultural change. 

Valdiviezo plans to grow a robust social impact campaign and partner with immigrant and women organizations, to bring the film to community centers, schools, broadcast, and online audiences. 

For ticket information:  bit.ly/3JZeLiT

“Prodigal Daughter” visit prodigaldaughterthemovie.com.

The post ‘Prodigal Daughter’ Fifteen Years in the Making, Makes World Premiere at LALIFF first appeared on .

Inspired by a true immigration story, Bienvenidos a Los Angeles tells the story of Imani, a 24-year-old Nigerian single mother living and working in Los Angeles who gets the devastating news that the Muslim ban has jeopardized her green card application and she must leave the country. On her shared-ride home, she meets Elizabeth, an undocumented Mexican woman on her way to LAX to reunite with her 6-year-old son whom she hasn’t seen since she left him behind five years ago in search of a better future for her family. Reeling from the total loss of control in her own life, Imani offers to help Elizabeth, not realizing that this simple act of kindness carries immense risk.

“I believe everyone has a story and deserves to be seen. But, when society is driven by fear, people are often relegated to stereotypes. When one takes the time to see beyond labels, complex human beings come into focus and a kinder world emerges,” said Cole.

Lisa Cole is a creative activist, writer, producer and director, who amplifies diverse underrepresented voices and exposes social injustices. Having lived with 201 host families across 12 countries in just three years, Cole’s diverse background fuels her storytelling. She has several feature films in development including working with producers Laura Bickford and Nathan Ross. In addition, Cole has directed and produced documentaries for The Gates Foundation, Sundance Institute, Viacom, BET, and A&E, focusing on women’s health and safety in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.

Among the many accolades Bienvenidos a Los Ángeles has received, the film recently won the 2023 Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase, the independent film movement promoting inclusion at the Festival de Cannes. Presented by Diversity in Cannes founder, Yolonda Brinkley, with support from Julius Tennon and Academy Award Winner Viola Davis’ JuVee Productions, the showcase featured uniquely themed films from America, Asia, New Zealand, Nigeria and points in between.

As part of the film’s community-centered immigrant rights impact initiative, Bienvenidos a Los Ángeles has partnered with the Refugee Children Center, a Los Angeles-based non-profit supporting unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the United States. The film is raising awareness and financial support for the organization by hosting community screenings and Q&A’s to spark dialogue about complicated issues surrounding immigration and vulnerable populations. The Center was recently recognized as an organization by the Recognition and Accreditation Program (R&A) from the United States Department of Justice.

“I see the story of Bienvenidos a Los Angeles reflected in each mother and caregiver at the Center,” said Mayra Medina-Nuñez, Executive Director at the Refugee Children Center. “Bienvenidos a Los Angeles highlights the humanity and the solidarity amongst human beings regardless of their legal or socio-economic status. It touches on the complexity of immigration laws in the United States while focusing on the strong love of a mother for their children.”

VIEW TRAILER HERE:  http://bienvenidosalosangeles.com/trailer.html

For more information about Bienvenidos a Los Angeles, please visit: www.balafilm.com

Follow Bienvenidos a Los Angeles on social media:
Facebook: @bienvenidosfilm
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Film Review By Roberto Leal

The Infiltrators is not a Hollywood blockbuster about an elite team of undercover cops who infiltrate drug cartels, the Klan or socialist PTA meetings in San Francisco. As the old saying goes: Truth is stranger than fiction. The Infiltrators filmmakers, Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, have crafted a little gem of a story that features heroes equal to any in the Marvel Comic Book Universe.

In 1973, the world hailed the publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn’s book detailed the horrors of the Soviet Union’s vast prison system that locked up political dissidents, like Solzhenitsyn, homosexuals and other social misfits. A self-righteous America pointed an accusatory finger at the Soviet Union and bragged: “Thank God, we’re not like that!”

Fast forward to present day America along our southern border and witness the explosive growth of for-profit (because we’re capitalist, not communists) detention centers where up to 40,000 undocumented immigrants languish, often for years, in what can rightly be called The Latino Gulag Archipelago.

The Infiltrators tells the true, inspiring story of young, undocumented Dreamers, who intentionally let themselves be taken by the Border Patrol, to a detention center in Broward County, Florida, where undocumented immigrants await deportation. The Dreamers, as members of the National Immigration Youth Alliance (NIYA), use protests, online petitions, and pressure on local politicians, to stop the deportations of the detainees, who are being held for minor offenses.

We follow Marco (Maynor Alvarado) as he covertly works in the detention center to stop deportations and secure releases. The mild-mannered, but resolute Marco must maneuver carefully to avoid his cover being blown and winding up in solitary confinement and obscurity.

When Marco finds out there are 100 women being held in the detention center, the NIYA team on the outside decide to send Viridiana (Chelsea Rendon) inside to coordinate the Dreamer’s mission with Marco. Complications arise when Marco and Viridiana are found out by the Border Patrol. Afterall, The Infiltrators is a thriller. What would a thriller be without obstacles, danger and complications?

But the Infiltrators, which won the Next Section Audience Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, has won critical acclaim for its brilliant cross genre approach in creating a powerful documentary/thriller. It’s an effective story-telling technique. Oliver Stone did it successfully in JFK (1991). Rob Reiner’s rockumentary, Spinal Tap, (1994), used it to great comic effect. But the makers of The Infiltrators, have taken the documentary/narrative film structure, and to quote Emeril Lagasse, “kicked it up a notch.”

The real-life documentary footage of the Dreamers protesting outside the detention center and the re-enactments of the actual events inside, have been masterfully and seamlessly edited together into one cohesive whole. At no point in The Infiltrators can you tell where the documentary ends, and the re-enactment begins. This is a tribute to the first-rate editing and cinematography.

In any good thriller, pacing is an important factor. However, the suspense and tension cannot be too constant or hyperbolic, or the effect is lost. But the amount of suspense and tension must be just enough, and the plot points strategically placed to keep the audience in their seats for the narrative ride.  

Directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra surely must be acolytes of The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.  Like Hitchcock, Rivera and Ibarra deftly combine the musical score, understated acting, along with excellent pacing, to allow the suspense to play out in an even-handed and measured way 

I was glad to see that screenwriters Alex Rivera and Aldo Velasco avoided the temptation to paint the Border Patrol and Guards as cartoonish, evil villains. Of course, the Border Patrol and detention center Guards are uniformly big, imposing characters who can quickly turn tough and menacing when the situation calls for it.

Conversely, the Dreamers are not portrayed as annoyingly noble, altruistic, goody-two-shoes. Maynor Alvarado’s performance, as Marco, is especially noteworthy. Marco is a bookish type who is more suited to infiltrating a public library, not a hostile immigrant detention center. Marco is quiet and unassuming, but he’s absolutely committed to the mission of the Dreamers and the NIYA.

Alvarado, a veteran of TV shows like, Gray’s Anatomy, NCIS: Los Angeles and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, can do a lot just with his eyes. When Marco shows up at the door of the detention center to intentionally get himself taken in by the Border Patrol, his face clearly reveals his anxiety and inner conflict. Maynor Alvarado’s Marco is the kind of hero you find yourself enthusiastically rooting for.

Chelsea Rendon (Viridiana) made her feature film debut at the tender age of 7, in No Turning Back, a role which garnered her several awards.  She is currently a series regular on VIDA hit drama on the Starz Network. Rendon has perfected her craft in a wide range of TV and film roles. What I liked best about Rendon’s performance of Viridiana is the sheer lack of artifice. She’s obviously a natural born actress.  You are never aware that Rendon is acting. She is Viridiana.

The supporting cast adds depth, texture and authenticity to The Infiltrators. My only criticism of The Infiltrators is why wasn’t it made into a feature length film or a mini-series on Netflix? Everything eventually winds up on Netflix. As a struggling screenwriter, I’d love to be on the writing staff of The Infiltrators mini-series.  Oh well, I guess that makes me a very old Dreamer.

In the opening scene of The Infiltrators, we hear Marco, in voice-over narration say: “Last year, I was reading Kafka. This year, I’m living it.”

The Infiltrators ends on the night of the 2016 presidential election. Marco’s statement has proven to be painfully prophetic. The hateful, racist policies of the Incredible Hoax, currently occupying the White House, has turned our southern border into a disgraceful chain of concentration camps that would turn Eichmann green with envy.

Now, with the specter of the Trumpvirus infecting the immigrants imprisoned down there, we need heroes, like Marco and Viridiana and the NIYA, to spring into action and do their thing, so I can have material to write the screenplay to The Infiltrators: The Sequel.

The Infiltrators is an Oscilloscope Laboratories release. Due to the Trumpvirus Pandemic that has put the kibosh on folks going to the movies, the theatrical premiere date is still TBD. However, The Infiltrators will be available On Demand on June 2.

The post Dreamers Confront a Latino Gulag In “The Infiltrators” first appeared on .

By Belisa Serna Hennington

Shot over 10 days on an active crossing site 30 miles north of the Mexican border, DUSTWUN is the story of a friendship between an undocumented migrant and a troubled American veteran building his own “wall” out of trash in the desert. DUSTWUN is the first feature film from writer and director indie filmmaker Genevieve Anderson.

“DUSTWUN came out of my experience living in Southern Arizona near the US/Mexico border for the past four years,” Anderson said. “My research for the film involved going on rescue missions with the Samaritans (a group that gives aid to crossing migrants), interviewing Afghanistan and Central America war veterans, extensive interviews with my step-brother, a Border Patrol agent, and extensive reading on issues surrounding immigration.

We built our set on an active crossing site in Green Valley, Arizona, and used many real artifacts abandoned by migrants. We shot during monsoon season and dealt with lightning strikes, flash floods, rattlesnakes and a host of other challenges. Although nowhere near what migrants experience when crossing, I felt the reality of the environment would imprint on the story, underscoring the greater force that binds us all. DUSTWUN is about people connecting beyond the imaginary borders of language, walls, and laws. We are at a crossroads where understanding our interconnectedness is vital to our survival as a species. I made this film as a fable to bypass politics and expand the conversation on what matters most: compassion.”

Anderson invites you and a guest to a free screening of DUSTWUN on Saturday, March 7, 2020, at the Arena Cinelounge in Hollywood. To secure your attendance, please RSVP by sending an email to info@dustwunmovie.com. For more information about the screening visit DUSTWUN’s Facebook page at

Learn more about the film at www.dustwunmovie.com. Follow DUSTWUN on social media for updates on future screenings:
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The original Party of Five television series made its debut in September 1994. Created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman, it chronicled the lives and misadventures of the five youthful Salinger siblings, following the loss of their parents in a car accident. Last month, Keyser and Lippman have brought back a brand new version of the series with a twist and it is currently streaming on Freeform, a streaming platform owned by Walt Disney Television, which specializes in programming for teenagers and young adults. 

In this iteration of the series Lippman is joined by Mexican-American Gabriel Llanas (previously Supervising Producer of Supergirl) as co-Executive Producer while Keyser is now committed to other projects.  

This new reboot focuses on the five Acosta children, who must survive in Los Angeles as a family unit after their restaurant-owning parents are suddenly deported to Mexico. The Acosta siblings are portrayed by Brandon Larracuente (Emilio), Emily Tosta (Lucia), Niko Guardado (Beto) and Elle Paris Legaspi (Valentina). The fifth Acosta child is a non-speaking infant. 

In the opening episode, a team from the U.S. Immigration Enforcement ICE) invade the Acosta’s successful restaurant and place the children’s parents, Javier (Bruno Bichir) and Gloria (Fernanda Urrejola) under arrest for having entered the U.S. illegally.  The Acosta siblings, after they overcome the shock of this monumental disruption to their happy family life, must not now deal with the task of keeping the restaurant going and keep their family from being separated by the city’s Department of Family Services, while also struggling with their own individual adolescent problems.  

Party of Five realistically balances the very real socio/political environment they are now facing with the very real often painful, social maturation they must deal with on a day to day basis.   

The eldest, socially confident Emilio, on his way to becoming a successful singer/songwriter and band leader, must now put his ambitions on hold to take over managing the restaurant. His academically brilliant 16-year-old sister Lucia, just entering the insecurities of young adulthood, is struggling to help her academically challenged fraternal twin, Beto, and take on added maternal responsibilities for her infant sister. Beto, the most sensitive of the five children, is struggling in all areas, particularly aware that the girl he adores has taken a fancy to his older brother. Precocious pre-teen Valentina cannot let go of her parents, constantly phoning and texting them at their current residence in Tijuana, Mexico. 

Larracunte, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, grew up in New York, and began his show business performing with a small opera company. “I never had to deal with the immigration problems the Acostas are facing.”  However, it is different for Emily Tosta, who portrays 16-year-old Lucia. “I’m an immigrant myself, from the Dominican Republic. I came here when I was 12 years old. And obviously there was a period of time when my mom and I were not documented to work, so I have definitely experienced countless immigration difficulties and so has my mother.” Tosta adds, “I mean my grandmother, she can’t come into this country. Sadly, she and my mother haven’t seen each other in over 10 years because of the current policies. So yeah, I’ve definitely experienced firsthand a lot of immigration troubles.”

Nico Guardado, who plays Beto, the fraternal twin to Lucia, is a second-generation Mexican-American (previously recurring on ABC’s The Goldbergs), the son of Major League Baseball All-Star Pitcher Eddie Guardado, the son of a Mexican immigrant who, for a time, picked fruit in California. “I’m the oldest of my siblings,” says Nico. “From the day my brother was born, my parents instilled in me that I had to be a role model. I had to set a positive example for my younger siblings. That’s what I bring to my character.”

Elle Paris Legaspi, who plays Valentina, has been performing most of her life, including dancing on stage by the age of five. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose my parents,” she admits. “If that were happening to me and my family right now, I’d be very sad because I’d need them for so much. I depend on my parents a whole lot because I am 11 years old.”

“The issues we deal in the series are complex,” said co-creator Lippman. “The Acosta children realize that Social Services could disrupt their household and place them in foster care. In an early episode, the first person who voices any kind of opposition to what the family has done (coming to the country without documentation) is a Mexican American. It’s not just Caucasian people who have an attitude about people coming into the country.  There are people who are here of Latinx backgrounds who also have issues and concerns. They have a problem welcoming a community of people who did not come to this country the same way they did”.  

Lippman also talked about the writers room and the importance of bringing on board Latinx writers, adding, “We’re looking at immigration from lots of points of view. I think that’s the goal. We are trying not to pass judgment on this family and how they got here.  We’re just saying this happens. It’s just a situation that lots of people now find themselves in. And always the kids have no choice in the matter.”

The post "Party Of Five" A Reflection Of The Times Hits The Right Notes first appeared on .

By Luis Reyes

Oscar nominated Director/Writer Gregory Nava (Selena, My Family, Mi Familia) talks about his 1985 classic landmark film El Norte [The North, Central America immigrants refer to the USA] in an Exclusive edited interview with Latin Heat Entertainment on the occasion of its upcoming 35^th anniversary release on Sunday Sept 15^th at 2:00 P.M.  

El Norte will be re-releasing by Lionsgate thru Fathom Events which is an entertainment content provider that broadcasts entertainment events/screenings in movie theaters throughout the US .  Fathom will be releasing El Norte in 200 select theatres nationwide.  

Nava was inspired to make the film as a young man fresh out of UCLA Film School. “I was born and raised on the border [San Diego] and I saw people crossing all the time, leaving violent oppression and poverty behind, looking for that beacon of freedom, and that is what gave me the idea of making the film… giving voice to the voiceless.”

When Nava and producer/writer Anna Thomas were looking for funding, they consciously did not pursue film studios or television networks because, more than likely, studio executives would demand changes be made in either script, casting, or both. Nava and Thomas believe that much of what makes El Norte special would have been jeopardized if a major studio had been involved in the filmmaking process. Their steadfast believes lead to an Academy Award nomination for Best original screenplay. 

When asked if El Norte is more relevant today than when it was first made?  Nava responded:

“Sadly it is. It was a horrific crisis when we made the film 35 years ago. The impact of the film was very strong in its time [1985]. It contributed to the US government granting protective status to refugees from Central America and saved thousands of lives.  It’s the thing that I am proudest of as a filmmaker.”  

He further said, “It was nominated for an Oscar (for Best Original Screenplay) and yes, but I am proudest that it actually helped save lives.”  He adds, “Now things have regressed yet again, hatred of Immigrants is back, the situation on the southern border is tragic, children are being put in cages, families are being separated. The message of compassion of El Norte is really more important today than when we made the film.”

El Norte is the film story of a young immigrant brother and sister, Enrique and Rosa fleeing poverty and violence in their Guatemalan homeland. Making the difficult trek through Mexico to the US they encounter many hurdles including crawling through a horrendous rat infested sewer tunnel on the Tijuana/ San Diego border and further trials and tribulations upon their arrival in Los Angeles.

 “David Villapando as Enrigue and Zaida Silvia Gutierrez as Rosa, their performances are the heart of El Norte. They made film audiences the world over fall in love with their characters.” says Nava. “We were all very young and on fire and that fire still burns.” 

The Oscar nominee, like other directors, uses many of the same actors, a sort of stock company, in his films, especially the late Lupe Ontiveros. who plays Nacha in this film, the woman who befriends Rosa upon her arrival in Los Angeles. He remarks, “I used Lupe Ontiveros three times, she’s such a great actress. She could have been a great star. Nacha in El Norte and Yolanda Saldivar in Selena, these are both amazing performances and completely different. We have such great talent and I love using great wonderful actors,” comments the director.

The film also features performances by Ernesto Gomez Cruz, Enrique Castillo, Mike Gomez, Tony Plana and the late Trinidad Silva.  

The independent film was shot in the indigenous communities of Chiapas and Michoacan, Mexico doubling for the Guatemalan Mayan highlands, since the country was in the midst of a Civil war, making filming prohibitive. Additional filming took place along the border in San Diego and in Los Angeles.

The Academy of Motion Pictures recently restored the film from its original negative with modern digital technology and to see it on the big screen, El Norte looks brand new, as if it had been made today, not thirty-five years ago.

When the film originally release in 1983 Variety called it the “first United American independent epic”, the first American independent film to be so honored

Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, signaled out the two leads as “straight, unactorly quality of the performances, especially by Zaide Silvia Gutierrez as Rosa and David Villalpando as Enrique, two splendid Mexican actors.”

In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Asked a final question on what the significance of this 35^th anniversary Fathom Event release of El Norte means to him?  Nava said.

“If all the theatres are full on September 15th, showing all across the country, we hope it sends a message to Hollywood that we want movies that are beautiful and compassionate and tell the truth about our community, not about Narcos, and also send a message to our president that we want compassion not cruelty.”

Nava and Fanthom Events have announced that profits earned by El Norte from the September 15^th screening of El Norte will be donated to the Fundacion Communitarian Paso Del Norte to help the El Paso mass shooting victims.

The post Gregory Nava’s “El Norte” 35 Year Theater Re-Release Proves Its Relevancy and Cinematic Excellence first appeared on .