Director David Riker in person for Q&A! 

More than a decade after bursting onto the scene with his acclaimed debut feature The City (La Ciudad)—a quartet of stories about Spanish-speaking immigrants trying to make it in New York—director David Riker travels south of the border for his long-awaited follow-up, The Girl. In a performance of staggering power, Abbie Cornish (Bright Star, Seven Psychopaths) stars as Ashley, a single Austin mother and recovering alcoholic trying to hold her life together after losing custody of her son and her job at a Wal Mart-esque big box store. Desperate for cash, Ashley offers her services as a “coyote” for a Mexican family trying to cross the border illegally. But when the attempted crossing ends in tragedy, Ashley finds herself playing surrogate mother to a lost and confused young girl desperate to find whatever family she has left. The harrowing, moving and ultimately hopeful journey that ensues takes us deep into the heart of Mexico, and of a woman trying to make amends for her troubled past.