Written and directed by Issa López
Starring Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López and Hanssel Casillas
Run time: 1 hour and 23 minutes

by Samuel Antezana

A child in an abandoned apartment complex dances under an umbrella soaked by water leaking through a hole in a cracked ceiling. Children daydream about a zoo as they stare at fish moving through the cloudy water within indents of a dirty floor. These are some of the beautifully realized moments of youth that writer/director Issa López begs us to cherish amidst cartel violence occurring in the ghostly cityscape of a poverty-ridden Mexican city in Tigers Are Not Afraid.