Cuchera

A revealing window into the harsh reality of Filipino drug trafficking, CUCHERA is a piercing drama that will shockingly bring you up close and personal with a very real issue prevalent in the Philippines today. Isabel is a former prostitute, turned veteran drug smuggler, who will do what she must to survive the dirty, fierce, and unfair world that is hers—even if that means recruiting naïve teenagers as drug mules and turning them into terrified vessels who are coerced into carrying illegal drugs from the impoverished slums of the Philippines across the sea to China. As we are taken deeper into Isabel's dangerous world of deceit, rape, and murder, it becomes apparent that beneath her intimidating, hardened surface there is a woman who feels for these kids, who has sat where they now sit. Ultimately, we see that she is a victim as well, unable to escape the cycle of crime that defines her existence. A stripped-down, gritty narrative based on the story of an actual Filipina drug mule who was caught with over 60 drug capsules lodged in her organs, CUCHERA accurately depicts the desperation of those living in Southeast Asia's drug smuggling capitol. (In Tagalog with subtitles) – M.M.