When Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu emerged into the international film scene with “Amores Perros” in 2000, a new wave of Latin American cinema had officially arrived. While there were filmmakers like Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron and Brazil’s Walter Salles who helped make films for Latin American cinema, Inarritu’s emergence helped open doors, as Argentina’s Fabian Bielinsky’s “Nueve Reinas” became an international hit, as did Cuaron’s “Y Tu Mama Tambien”. In 2002, another Brazilian director emerged into the scene with his sophomore feature based on the true stories of life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro through the eyes of a youth caught in the middle of a violent drug war.