The female-driven crime drama Cadejo Blanco has unveiled a clip in advance of its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Industry Selects section. Cadejo Blanco is reminiscent of Maria Full of Grace and Miss Bala, addressing timely issues of lack of opportunities for women, youth violence, and indiscriminate crime in Guatemala. Writer/director Justin Lerner spent years in Guatemala interviewing young people with gang affiliations, collecting their life stories. For authenticity, he cast his interview subjects to play themselves in the film, and then spent a year doing acting workshops with them. He encouraged each actor to revise the script as they saw necessary, even during shooting, a process that allowed the non-professional cast to ensure their stories were being properly represented on screen.

Karen Martínez (2013’s Cannes Un Certain Regard’s ‘A Certain Talent’ Ensemble Prize Winner for The Golden Dream) is Sarita, a young woman frightened by her sister’s disappearance,...