We Are Mari Pepa (ATOM Study Guide)

We Are Mari Pepa (2013) is a feature film directed by Samuel Kishi Leopo. The film is a coming-of-age drama about sixteen-year-old Alex, the lead singer of a Mexican punk rock band that only has one song.

Alex and his mates want to enter their band, Mari Pepa, into a Mexican 'battle of the bands' competition. They need to come up with a second song to be eligible and the creative juices are, well, slow to fire.

Set in Mexico's second-largest city over the summer holidays, this assured drama captures all the crude energy and frequent humiliations of male adolescence – and wannabe rockstars. Avoiding cliché, the story takes a different route, detouring into the boys' home lives where the reality of adulthood often threatens to derail their grandiose plans.

A feature-length expansion of director Samuel Kishi Leopo's award-winning short, We Are Mari Pepa is a sensitive, invigorating film, with a punk/traditional Mexican soundtrack adding extra rhythm.

Curriculum Links

We Are Mari Pepa is suitable for secondary students in Years 10–12 undertaking subjects within the learning areas of English, Languages (Spanish) and The Arts (Media Arts), and is relevant to the General Capabilities of Intercultural Understanding, and Personal and Social Capability.