El Padrino (2019)

El Padrino introduces Christopher Alvarez to the world, or at least to the film world. His Instagram already has over three hundred and thirty-seven thousand followers-which is not surprising given how charismatic and inspiring he is. In El Padrino, Christopher plays Eduardo, a 16-year-old, seriously disabled boy whose parents have been deported by ICE agents. Eduardo has been born in the US, so he was left behind. He is housed in a city services home while waiting to be warehoused in a hospital upstate. He is devastated by the loss of his family and the prospect of being institutionalized in a place where his insensitive home aide says, "the smell alone will drive you suicidal." One night he has a substitute home aide, Rosa, who is undocumented. She has connections to get her and her teenage daughter, Esperanza, to Canada, but then hears that the shelter they live in has been raided and her ex-husband Ramon, has been arrested. He has all of their money. She leaves Esperanza, in charge of Eduardo and goes out in search of means to get them out of NYC immediately. Esperanza quickly gets bored with being inside, so convinces Eduardo to head outside for his first night on the town. Given how people stare at Eduardo because of his disabilities, he is initially reluctant, but Esperanza is not the type of girl to take "no" for an answer.