Esteban

There must be more to life than selling small containers of shampoo, conditioner, and packs of tampons to strangers on the streets of Havana. So believes Esteban, a nine-year old Cuban schoolboy, who becomes mesmerized by the sounds of an intricate piano melody wafting through a window on one of his after-school sales routes. Pining to play the instrument, Esteban's awareness is increasingly oblivious to the obstacles his single mother faces in struggling to provide basic necessities like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Paying for piano lessons? Now that's a cigar-scented pipe dream. Impossibilities aside, Esteban literally scales a wall finding his fingers playing piano scales by ear. A curmudgeonly music teacher with a dark secret must decide if Esteban is a discordant omen or the missing melody of an unfulfilled life in this debut feature by director Jonal Cosculluela that juxtaposes perseverance with innocence. (Mill Valley Film Festival)