Watch: Sundance pick 'Benavides Born' features weight lifting, heavy emotional weight

And you thought you didn't want to get trapped after high school...

By Katie Hasty Thursday, Jan 20, 2011 5:35 PM

Petite high school girls aren't exactly known for weight lifting, but that's precisely the ticket that will get Luz Garcia (Corina Calderon) out of her tiny Texas town.

This U.S. Competition for Dramatic film at Sundance examines "a place where multifaceted, third-generation Mexican American characters, conscious of obstacles and opportunities, fight to shape their own lives."

Luz is accepted into University of Texas but can't afford to go without scholarship. Somehow, earning scholarship for weight lifting becomes her only chance in. In these clips, released by Kapok Pictures, we see Luz training in an empty ball field, with little to no help from her training companion; then, there's a firey fight with her mother as she's encouraged to settle, her mom encouraging, "You don't have to have the best."

"I'm saying responsible people think about all the possible options," her mom says, vaguelly referring to her daughter just going to a lesser university.

"Benavides Born" premieres on Saturday in Park City.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.