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The Neighborhood People from Movie  

Synopsis

The Mission District is full of the art and culture of a long history of Latino immigrants and their offspring mixed with the Bohemian air of artists and activism. In the 1990s restaurateurs, other entrepreneurs, enthusiastic bar-hoppers, and young tech-wealth with a desire for city grit came into the mix. Meanwhile, immigrants still arrived.

Mission Movie/Una Película de la Misión is derived from real-life stories of San Francisco's most vibrant, complex, in-transition neighborhood. Inner turmoil turns outward in this bilingual urban drama about the struggle for territory and belonging.

Mark, a young, white artist, is excited about his commissioned foray into street art. He's lived in the Mission for eight years, but a battle of wills ensues as some kids begin tagging his artwork. Mark seeks the help of Roger, a young, Latino artist affiliated with the mural project (and born and raised in the Mission) to intervene. If Mark is to successfully finish his mural in time for its unveiling to the art world, he must learn to see through the eyes of the kids and Roger.

Antonia is a happy, middle-aged third-generation resident of the Mission. She is a success story. She bought the restaurant that her parents worked in and it's a thriving hub of activity and Mission life. She's the furthest thing from an outsider. Until her SUV gets keyed. Is it possible that the fruits of her success have made her an undesirable?

Rene emigrated from Central America to make more money. His wife Rosario and their daughters joined him six months ago, but their arrival has not taken away the taint of who he seems to be here. To make matters worse, Rosario begins thriving. She just got promoted at the restaurant, and even though they are getting evicted from their apartment, her dream of a better life is materializing. If Rene is ever to feel like a human being again he feels he must return to what he knows, but if her children are to succeed in life, Rosario believes she must stay.

Also getting evicted is a group of twenty-something hipsters: Mark, the muralist, and his roommates Annika, Susan, and Victor. Susan is a stable dot.commer in search of herself. Annika is a flake with a drug and alcohol problem who throws the household into turmoil when she finds an eviction notice that has been lost in her room for a month. Victor, a half-baked activist, rushes to save their home in the 30 days remaining on their lease.

George owns a corner store. Political strife in his home country of Palestine propelled him here, and the store is his haven of secure life. Since his wife's death, that life has become focused on his children: daughter Nadia, an aspiring documentary filmmaker, and son Joe, an increasingly political high-school student. George starts to lose hope as their friends, lives, and activism begin to take them away from the store and him.