Luis de Icaza

Carlos has an empty belly and tries to dominate nature by obeying it. The only two pigs in his village are seductive meat. He already has the table set, without knowing that the pig affection will tell him what the pantheons are full of.

Adapted by writer/director Fernando Sariñana from the stories by Juan Madrid, Ciudades Oscuras (Dark Cities) tells a story of interwoven lives in the seedy underbelly of Mexico City. The several different story lines concern hooker Lola (Dolores Heredia); her drug addict son Fede (Diego Luna); her friend Zeze (Zaide Silvia Gutierrez); Zeze's daughter Susana (Jimena Ayala); and junkie Vicente (Roberto Sosa). Also on the scene are two corrupt cops (Alejandro Tommasi and Jesus Ochoa) and one good cop (Odiseo Bichir), while Chicken (Hector Suarez) and Casimiro (Alonso Echanove) each tell their separate stories to the same bartender (Demian Bichir). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Many stories of families within an urban complex.

After working for three years in the USA, Filiberto returns to his home town in Mexico. A proud man, he is searching for the recognition that will give him a new position in life. However, he finds that things have changed. His mother is dead, and Luis, his best friend, is married to his ex-girlfriend. Filiberto gets involved in the town’s disputes over a water spring.

A view of the end-of-the-century Mexican family. A father who comes back home after a long absence, but who would rather be somewhere else. A daughter suffering from a trapped pain. A son full of guilt and recriminations. A little kid who soaks up all the tension in the house, like a sponge, and a self-effacing mother who would like to go away and leave everything behind.

A comedic drama featuring two couples and two old friends in Mexico City. Tomas visits Carlos and Ana, while Miguel and Andrea are joined by Maria. The presence of guests triggers lust, rejection, infidelities, reconciliation and other consequences.

Amelia is an old retired prostitute who lives at an asylum, where she decides to enter a T.V. contest.

In the colonial New Spain Ana is a missionary who decides to support the indigenous people.

In the 1940s, a small Mexican town has seen its last three mayors assassinated in rapid succession. A naive janitor is recruited to become the new mayor, and he believes he will modernize the little town and usher in a reign of peace. But the system corrupts him very quickly, and he takes to abusing his power while associating with an unscrupulous assortment of opportunists, hypocrites and criminals.

When a Brazilian woman is falsely accused of killing a prominent Mexican politician, Marco, a young journalist, is hired by a stranger to discover the real motive of the crime. He is assisted by his photographer girlfriend María, and they are trapped in a web of torture, prostitution, corruption and power struggle.