“Desire Street” is a Spanish-Chinese-American feature film written and directed by award-winning filmmakers Roberto F. Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi as their MFA graduation project at the New York Film Academy in Hollywood.

After a tragic accident, a Mexican immigrant family in Los Angeles struggles to rebuild their lives. Carmen, a widowed and devoutly religious mother, tries to “fix” her teenage son Andrea’s sexuality through faith and control. Her daughter Bess hides from the world behind eccentric behavior, while Andrea searches for freedom and affection in risky places. Their lives change with the arrival of a flamboyant new neighbor, Lucy Bell — a prostitute whose uninhibited spirit awakens desire, compassion, and chaos in equal measure.

Shot on Super 16 mm in Los Angeles’ Koreatown with a student crew and minimal budget, the film interweaves three stories — those of Carmen, Bess and Andrea — to explore sexuality, repression, immigration, and family bonds with both humor and tenderness.

Influenced by the colorful Mexican melodramas of the 1960s and the irreverent tone of Almodóvar’s cinema, Desire Street transforms tragedy into irony and vulnerability into resilience. Its message: respect for difference — sexual, racial, or social — and the importance of unconditional family support.
Premiered at Mix Mexico International Film Festival (2011), where it received a Special Mention for Best Feature Film, and later awarded Best Feature Film at the Asturian Film Festival (2014), the film was praised for its strong script, vibrant performances, and sugestive music.

🎥 Genre: Comedy / Drama / Family / LGBTIQ+
🕒 Runtime: 82 min
🌍 Language: English & Spanish (with optional subtitles in French, Italian, and other languages)
📽️ Format: Super 16 mm Film
🎵 Music: Andrea Centazzo
👥 Cast: Alejandra Walker, Javier Lopez, Ellen Clifford, Kjord Davis, Jesus Guevara, Alexandra Smothers

🔗 Contact: [email protected]
🔗 Official Website: https://almostred.com/desire-street/
🎞️ IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617083/
🎬 TMDb: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/283353-desire-street
📚 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_Street_(film)
⭐ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/desire-street/
🎥 FilmAffinity: https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film420709.html
▶️ Trailer: https://youtu.be/wk67nViJ1No

Tagline:
“Between faith and desire, every soul seeks its own salvation.”

Mexican family drama, LGBTQ cinema, immigrant stories Los Angeles, Super 16mm indie film, New York Film Academy feature, faith and sexuality conflict, Almodovar inspiration, Mexican melodrama style, Latino representation, family repression narrative, queer coming-of-age, prostitute character study, student film award winner, Roberto F. Canuto, Xu Xiaoxi, Almost Red Productions.