The Girl

2012, USA - Mexico

Director: David Riker 
Producer: Paul Mezey 
Production: Frontera Films 
Screenplay: David Riker
Cast: Abbie Cornish, Will Patton, Maritza Santiago Hernández 
Cinematographer: Martín Boege

synopsis

Ashley is a bitter, cynical single mother who loses the custody of her son due to financial problems. After years of trying to get her son back while enduring low-paying jobs and intrusive home visits from Social Services, she decides to follow her father’s steps and become a “coyote”: transport people illegally across the Mexican-US border. Everything changes when she meets a Mexican girl whose mother is missing and helps try and find her along the Río Grande border near Nuevo Laredo. After learning that the mother was drowned, she is unable to abandon the girl and decides to take her back to her hometown in Oaxaca despite the dangers and obstacles.