12/12/2024                                                                            
                                    
                                                                            
                                            The film is centered around Janie May Collins, a young woman living paycheck-to-paycheck working at a diner in Waco, Texas. Janie dreams of one day making it big as a country singer and when she hears the local radio host announce their ‘Opening act, singer songwriter competition’, featuring celebrity judge Harlan Thompson, she sees her shot at success finally materialise. With no time to waste she quickly submits her application and shortly thereafter she gets the exciting news that she’s in the top ten.
Back at work she eagerly listens to the radio to hear who has been selected as the top three to come in and perform her song live in front of Harlan himself. As the news breaks that she is in and needs to hurry down to the station she quickly sorts out the last of her tables and on her way back with the dishes bumps into Jesús Perez, an undocumented newly hired friend of a cousin to one of the back staff who speaks little to no english. The brief chance encounter will prove to hold much more weight than Janie could have ever imagined, as she whisks off to the radio station only to run into Jesús again.
The short mixes in home video style footage with sunbathed widescreen modern shots, quickly establishing the depth of the main character’s struggle in pursuit of the American dream. Intertwined with Jesús and his own version of the American dream, the two serve as a natural two sides of the same coin, reminding the viewers of a commonality in spite of our differences in background and opportunity. We see this as something that will resonate well with the Academy voters, especially in an election year like this.