Chop Shop (2007)

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FESTIVALS

Cannes Film Festival 2007
Toronto Film Festival 2007
London Film Festival 2007
Berlin Film Festival 2008

TECHNICAL

LENGTH: 84min
FORMAT: 35MM
COLOR
DOLBY 5.1

SYNOPSIS

Alejandro, a tough and ambitious Latino street orphan on the verge of adolescence, lives and works in an auto-body repair shop in a sprawling junkyard on the outskirts of Queens, New York. In this chaotic world of adults, young Alejandro struggles to make a better life for himself and his 16-year-old sister, Isamar. He finds her a job in a food van cooking and selling meals to the auto-body workers, and with a mixture of childlike naiveté and adult ambition, Alejandro begins obsessively saving his money to buy a mobile-food van as the siblings dream about owning and running a small business of their own. But when their dream, and their loving relationship, is threatened by the hard truths of life, work, and one another, the children find themselves forced to make the kinds of difficult decisions that most adults never have to face.

Intimate, heartbreaking, and yet ultimately hopeful, CHOP SHOP is a portrait of a young boy navigating his way through a chaotic adult world. Set in a stunning and unique location, it is subtle and simple, but tells a profound story about the people who live, work, and dream there.