Karla Montana

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.

Nothing is more important to Mexican-American Marta Delacruz than her quinceanera -- the traditional 15th birthday celebration that symbolically ushers a young girl into adulthood. Marta is understandably angry and resentful when her father cancels the gala event, but her outlook changes completely when she accidentally uncovers her father's secret: He never became a U.S. citizen.

New York City cop becomes partners with a rodeo cowboy from Montana on the City's Mounted Police Department.

A first-time feature-film director (who's also the writer and producer) is casting the lead actress. We meet him talking to his wife about the picture and the process. We meet the actress, Sandy, negotiating with her roommate and talking by phone to her mother. Then, we watch Sandy audition for the director at the call-back session; also attending are the casting director and the production company's sycophants. The wrinkle is that the director is a homicidal misogynist, his wife is tied up and hanging from the ceiling, and Sandy has something in her purse that bodes a rocky future.