JOSÉ

José (19 years old) lives with his Mother in Guatemala City - a typical lower-class existence in one of the world's most dangerous, religious, and impoverished countries. José spends his days on cramped buses and fighting traffic as he runs food to waiting drivers. Aloof and resigned to things as they are, he fills his free moments playing with his phone and random sex arranged on street corners and dating apps. When he meets Luis, a migrant from the rural Caribbean coast, they pursue an unexpected relationship and José is thrust into passion and pain and self-reflection that was previously unimaginable.

Li Cheng is writer, director and producer. He is originally from China, moved to USA in 1999, now world-nomad. Cheng left biotechnology research in 2007 to focus on film and his first feature, Joshua Tree, is on the crisis of the American Dream - a critique of US American culture. His second feature, José, premiered at Venice Film Festival was awarded Queer Lion for the project he conducted research in 12 Latin American countries and lived in Guatemala for two years. Cheng holds a PhD from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.

…It has a depth of feeling, strong sense of frustration, and hunger for growth and change that heighten involvement.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter