Still in the prime of her life, Regina works long hours at a Tallahassee fast-food stop, barely earning enough to scrape by and feed her two children – Andrew, an emotionally cagey adolescent, and her young daughter. When a charismatic stranger shows interest, Regina isn’t sure she can muster enough trust to let him into her fraught life—and Andrew’s ongoing confrontations with authorities don’t help matters. With smoldering resentment at his incarcerated father and dealing with a mother nearing the end of her fraying tether, Andrew is more at risk than he realizes.

Dividing its attention—and compassion—evenly between Andrew and Regina, Life and Nothing More is an invigorating work of modern neorealism set on the fringes of urban Florida. Spanish writer-director Antonio Méndez Esparza displays an astonishing grasp of the conundrum of race, family and justice that suffuse our contemporary America. Life and Nothing More is essential cinema for our present moment. –Jaie Laplante

A special performance by Sekajipo Forthepeople and NephiiLove from Smoke Signals Studio will kick off the screening of Life & Nothing More.