Real Women Have Curves

Winner of the Dramatic Audience Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, this HBO Films comedy/drama tells the story of 18-year-old Ana (America Ferrera), a first-generation Mexican-American from East Los Angeles, who struggles to strike a balance between her mainstream ambitions and her more traditional cultural heritage as she attempts to forge her own path in life. Graduating from high school, Ana would like nothing better than attend college - a goal her teacher and mentor (George Lopez) wholeheartedly supports. But Ana's needy mother Carmen (Lupe Ontiveros) has other plans for her "baby," feeling that "it's her time" to contribute to the family and join her older sister at work at a sewing factory. Reluctantly, Ana agrees, and ends up learning lessons at the factory and with a young man (Brian Sites) that help her come to terms with herself, her body and her future - paving the way towards her ultimate independence.