Alma Punk (Punk Soul)

Like Nadie es Innocente, Minter’s 1991 film Alma Punk combines improvisation and non-actors in a uniquely produced exploration of Mexico City’s punk scene. Starring a cast led by real-life punk Ana Hernandez (as Alma, which also means “soul”), Alma Punk traces the tortuous path of a young riot grrl from the Mexico City punk scene as she moves north to Tijuana and, eventually, towards the United States. It confidently breaks with the rules of staging docudrama with an unsparing look at Alma’s love life, unfakeable scene bohemianism, and extensive location footage of Mexico before NAFTA and after the 1985 earthquake.