Cinema Guild will release the Mexican film Dos Estaciones, winner of the World Dramatic Special Jury Prize: Acting at the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Screenwriting at Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
The acclaimed fiction feature debut by director Juan Pablo González, recipient of the True Vision Award at the True/False Film Festival and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking, opens on Friday, September 9 at the IFC Center in New York City, on Friday, September 16 at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, followed by other cities including Chicago, San Diego, and Seattle.
Set in the bucolic hills of the Jalisco Highlands, the film tells the story of fifty-year-old businesswoman María García, who is the owner of Dos Estaciones, once a premier tequila factory that is now struggling to stay afloat. The family factory is the last holdout from generations of Mexican-owned tequila plants, the rest having been folded into foreign corporations. Formerly one of the wealthiest people in town, María knows her current financial situation is untenable.
María hires Rafaela as a new manager for the factory and comes to rely on her to keep her business afloat. The lines between the personal and the professional start to blur, hinting at a romantic interest between the two fiercely independent women in an industry run by men. Yet, when a persistent crop plague and an unexpected flood cause irreversible damage, María is forced to do everything she can to save her community’s pride and primary economic source.
A favorite at numerous film festivals including New Directors/New Films and New Horizons, Dos Estaciones boasts an impressive cast of professional and non-professional actors. Ariel-nominated actor Teresa Sánchez (The Chambermaid, Fauna) offers an unforgettable performance as María García, the stoic owner of the tequila factory. She’s accompanied by renowned actor Manuel García-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer, The Magnificent Seven), and newcomers Rafaela Fuentes and trans actor Tatín Vera.
Dos Estaciones is a powerful drama that is deeply rooted in the community it depicts, showing the on-the-ground consequences of globalization in post-NAFTA Mexico. In his absorbing debut fiction film, director González offers a welcome twist to the traditional ranchero melodrama set in the idyllic haciendas of yesteryear’s Mexican cinema–telling this contemporary and thrilling story of resistance that is also a love letter to the director’s homeland.
Watch a clip from Dos Estaciones