Cassandro at Sundance

In the lucha libre wrestling scene of Juárez, Mexico, gay luchador Saúl is tired of playing El Topo, a nondescript, masked runt who always loses his matches. He wants to be a star. His fierce new trainer, Sabrina, suggests he develop an exótico character — an unmasked, stereotypically effeminate role audiences love to hate. But exóticos never get to win. All that changes when Saúl debuts the flamboyant and powerful Cassandro, who captures the crowd’s attention and affection. But how will Cassandro’s ascent affect Saúl’s relationship with his mother — still pining away for his unavailable father — and with Gerardo, Saúl’s secret lover?

Academy Award–winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated, 2016 Sundance Film Festival) makes his fiction directorial debut with the real-life tale of Cassandro, the “Liberace of lucha libre,” crafting an engaging origin story for an outsider turned unlikely superstar. Gael García Bernal embodies the two distinct sides of Saúl, capturing both his feelings of otherness and the boisterous ring persona who embraces and revels in his difference.

This film offers Audio Description. For in-person screenings, please submit an accommodation request to arrange for an audio description device at your screening time/location. This assists our Accessibility team with ensuring enough devices are available.

Meet the Artist

Roger Ross Williams

Roger Ross Williams is an Oscar, Emmy, Webby, Peabody, and NAACP Image award–winning director, producer, and writer and the first African American director to win an Academy Award with Music by Prudence. His company, One Story Up, produced the acclaimed projects High on the Hog, Civil: Ben Crump, and Master of Light. Cassandro is his first scripted feature film.