''Magic City Memoirs'' is a 2011 American

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama film directed by Aaron J. Salgado, and stars

Natalie Martinez Natalie Martinez (born July 12, 1984) is an American actress and model. She appeared in the 2008 film '' Death Race'', several music videos between 2003 and 2011, and two short-lived telenovelas in 2006 and 2007. Martinez starred in the single se ...

Dominik Garcia-Lorido Dominic, Dominik or Dominick is a male given name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". The most promi ...

Nestor Serrano Nestor Serrano (born November 5, 1955) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Navi Araz in the fourth season of ''24 (TV series), 24''. He also appeared as Emilio Loera in the fourth season of the Cinemax series ''Bans ...

Julio Oscar Mechoso Julio Óscar Mechoso (May 31, 1955 – November 25, 2017) was a Cuban- American actor who played detective Ruiz in '' Bad Boys'' and appeared in such films as '' Blue Streak'', ''Jurassic Park III'', '' The Legend of Zorro'', '' The Lost City ...

J.R. Villarreal J.R. Villarreal (born September 28, 1992) is an American actor, producer, and second-line director, best known for his roles as Javier in 2006 film ''Akeelah and the Bee'', Black Scorpion on the ''Disney Channel'' action-comedy series ''Ultra Vio ...

and Michael Cardelle. The film is based on the true stories from Salgado's adolescence. The film takes place in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, and follows the story of three lifelong friends, from very different backgrounds, who are on the verge of

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

who indulge in reckless behavior that finds them on the brink of either their graduation or their mortality.

Synopsis

Magic City Memoirs follows the lives of three lifelong friends: Mikey Acosta, Angel and Stok. Mikey Acosta is a star high school

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

prospect, while Angel is a whiz of a student as well as the son of a prominent Miami

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Stok is the son of an incarcerated

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or lord of drugs is a type of crime boss in charge of a drug trafficking network, organization, or enterprise. Crime barons may be difficult to bring to justice: usually, they do not possess illegal goods. Ra ...

. These three best friends attempt to navigate through their senior year amongst the pressures and temptations of the city.

Cast

as Mari *

as Veronica Suarez *

as Angel Suarez Sr. *

as Alejandro Acosta *

as Mikey Acosta * Michael Cardelle as Angel Suarez Jr. * Andres Dominguez as Stok * Jordi Vilasuso as Eric *

Granville Adams Granville Adams (October 8, 1963 – October 10, 2021) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Zahir Arif on the HBO television series '' Oz''. He also had a recurring role on the NBC series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' as O ...

as Scout

Release

The film

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

d at the

Miami International Film Festival The Miami Film Festival, formerly Miami International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida, each March. Since 2015 the festival also runs a smaller Fall Festival, known as the Miami Film Festival GEMS, which presents ...

, where it won the ''Pursuit of Perfection Award''.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1466058, Magic City Memoirs 2011 films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2011 independent films American coming-of-age drama films Films shot in Miami American independent films 2011 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films