JAMES; EL MONAGUILLO, EL CURA Y EL JARDINERO

Program:

JAMES
Andrés Rodríguez, Guatemala / Mexico, 2024, short film
SCREENPLAY Andrés Rodríguez | CINEMATOGRAPHY Sebastián Lojo | EDITING Cem Demirer | SOUND Eduardo Marroquín | MUSIC Vicente Barcarcel | CAST James Maldonado, José Poz, Erick Maldonado
20 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

The solitude of the big city accompanies James, an Indigenous teenager scraping by as a street vendor on the streets of Guatemala City. He tries to earn a living selling mobile phone cases, all the while grappling with a sense of abandonment, the harshness of his daily life, and his own notions of masculinity. The other boys who work on the streets alongside him have developed their own rules and ways of asserting themselves in this world.
The more James tries to forge his own path, the more pressing the question becomes: what must he leave behind to do so? The film tells a story of a childhood that ends too soon, of the search for belonging, and of the attempt to navigate a world that leaves little room for him.
A poignant portrait of coming of age on the margins of society—and the hope of not losing oneself in the process.


EL MONAGUILLO, EL CURA Y EL JARDINERO
Juan Manuel Fernández Escoto, Costa Rica, 2025, documentary film
SCREENPLAY Juan Manuel Fernández Escoto | CINEMATOGRAPHY Juan Manuel Fernández and Laura Ángel | EDITING Juan Manuel Fernández, Medhin Tewolde, Nitay Jiménez | SOUND Erick Vargas | MUSIC Walter Briceño | CAST Anthony Venegas Abarca, Josué Alvarado Quirós
85 min | Color, Spanish with English subtitles, DCP

Anthony and Josué were still children when they were sexually abused by the priest Mauricio Víquez. Anthony served as an altar boy and was made compliant through the gift of presents. Josué worked as a gardener at the priest’s residence, relying on the income to support his family, who were living in a precarious economic situation. For years, both men remained silent about what they had experienced.
In 2018, Anthony broke his silence. He became the first former altar boy in Costa Rica to publicly accuse a priest of sexual abuse—in a country where the Catholic Church still holds a special constitutional status today. Víquez initially fled to Panama and later went into hiding in Mexico. Inspired by Anthony’s courage, Josué and other survivors also came forward.
Josué’s testimony proved crucial, as his case was one of the few that could still be prosecuted under the statutes of limitations in effect at the time. Simultaneously, Anthony campaigned for a reform of the statute of limitations; this was enacted in 2022, extending the time limits for cases involving the sexual abuse of children.
With Víquez still on the run and the deadline for Josué’s case nearing expiration, Anthony traveled to Mexico himself. He sought to increase pressure on the authorities and draw public attention to the search for the priest. Together, Anthony and Josué are fighting to ensure that Víquez is held accountable for his actions—after the Church failed to do so.
A compelling documentary about breaking the silence, institutional failure, and the long road to justice.