Feature film directed by Dylan Verrechia, co-written with James Lefkowitz, 25th Frame.

A young man will go to any lengths to make his dream come true in this independent drama from writer and director Dylan Verrechia.

Indio (Pablo Tendilla Ortiz) is growing up with a poor family in the Mexican border town of Tijuana. Cockfighting is still a popular and lucrative sport in Tijuana, and Indio thinks he has what it takes to train a champion bird. As a present for his fifteenth birthday, Indio asks his father Jhonny (Pablo Tendilla Rocha) to get him a rooster that's up for sale from a local breeder who has helped spawn some winning birds.

However, Jhonny can't afford the rooster, and instead buys his son an evening with Brianda (Darina Rabago Soto), a teenage prostitute. While Indio and Brianda strike up a brief romance, he's not about to give up his ambitions of training a winning rooster, and takes whatever odd jobs he can find to help raise the cash -- everything from washing cars to working as a drug mule.

TIJUANA MAKES ME HAPPY received its premiere at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, where it received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide, The New York Times

Director: Dylan Verrechia
Writers/Producers: James Lefkowitz & Dylan Verrechia
Director of Photography/Editor: James Lefkowitz
Sound Mixer: Julio Molina, Leonardo Costa Gomes

25th FRAME LLC

Camera: DVX-100
Edited on Sony Vegas

WINNER
Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature – Slamdance Film Festival
Indie Max Award – San Antonio Film Festival