Tells the stories of a group of people in Ciudad de Juarez with one thing in common: they are all looking for a better life for them and their families. For many, that better life waits just a short walk away in the United States.

Interconnected stories explore hope, heartbreak and the lines people cross in search of a better life. In Juarez, a day laborer helps his friend traffic illegal migrant workers across the border. A young mother flees Mexico in a desperate attempt to get her son American medical treatment. In New Mexico, an illegal immigrant sells drugs to pay the bills for his American-born children. And, when a low-level Mexican gangster tries to work his way up the ladder by smuggling drugs and people across the border, he unwittingly sets these lives on a collision course.

ILEGALES is the debut feature effort from up and coming director Ric Dupont. He brings 14 years of news production including his first hand experience covering violent struggles and social issues along border to the story of ILEGALES.  With this film, he sought to capture the sharp contrast between American and Mexican perspectives on border issues and immigration.

Mariana (Paola Mendoza) is determined to keep her family together. Her children, Gabriel (Sebastian Villada Lopez), 10, and Andrea (Laura Montana Cortez), 6, have grown up in Colombia without their father. He immigrated to the United States years earlier in order to make a better life for his family. Finally after many years of separation the family is reunited in New York City.

After coming home late from work one night Antonio announces he has found work in Miami and will be moving there…alone. He will send for the family when he is settled.

Days go by and Mariana does not hear from him. Worried and desperate, she goes to her only friend’s home only to find out Antonio is not coming back.  The rent is due, there is no food on the table and Mariana has fifty dollars to her name.  With no one to turn to, she must find a way, in a strange city where she barely speaks the language, to provide for her family, financially and emotionally.

Mariana makes homemade empanadas (meat patties), which she tries to sell on the streets, however this quickly fails.  With all options closing in on her, Mariana turns to the city’s trash, collecting cans in order to put food on the table. With Gabriel and Andrea working beside her, the family finds the most stability they have known since their arrival, and it is during these challenging moments that the family triumphs.

In entre nos, Mariana, Gabriel and Andrea take us on a remarkable journey where we bear witness to a family’s commitment to survival and their unrelenting hope for the American dream...one soda can at a time.