Powder

El Chato left his village ten years ago hoping to become an actor in Hollywood. Now he is going back to San Ignacio on the Baja peninsula, and the reason is not his dream but a load of cocaine dropped near the town by a cartel plane. The town has changed in ten years, and the presence of that load concerns everybody. What is waiting for El Chato when he returns is not only old acquaintances. The film is set in the early eighties and looks at how the easy money of the drug trade changes a small town, doing it as comedy rather than drama. José María Yázpik both directs and takes the lead; it is his first film as director and he wrote the script with Alejandro Ricaño. The production was nominated in ten categories at Mexico's Ariel awards, including best picture and best director. The town itself is the best character in the film.