Directed by: Ilana Trachtman and Kim Connell
Granted on: 2009-06-01
Grant: I Believe in You Grant
Mariachi High follows a year in the life of competitive high school musicians in the top-ranked ensemble Mariachi Halcon in the small border town of Zapata, Texas – a flash point for the issues facing the fastest-growing ethnic group in the US. Against the backdrop of mounting border violence, the highest dropout rate nationwide and steep budget cuts that threaten the band's survival, Mariachi High presents the brightest, most driven and talented Mexican American teenagers you’ve never seen on the screen.
Mariachi High is a documentary film, supported in part by Latino Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, that will take viewers on a transformative and spirited journey into the dreams and dramas of Mexican American teenage-hood, through the soulful and vibrant lens of a competitive mariachi band. High school has never sounded so good.