On the slopes of an active volcano in Guatemala, a young girl named Maria (María Mercedes Coroy) lives with her family in their small Kaqchikel village. A coffee plantation at the base of the volcano serves as the village’s primary means of employment and Maria has been promised to Ignacio, the plantation’s foreman, a match that will ensure her family’s status and finances. However, Maria’s affections lie with lowly coffee cutter Pepe, whose dreams of escaping his village and moving to the US inspire and excite Maria. Ixcanul is the story of a girl on the precipice of adulthood caught between two men, and ultimately, two worlds: the oppressive traditionalism of her parents and the wide-open modernity beckoning right outside her door. Working with non-actors, filmmaker Jayro Bustamante (in his feature debut) crafts a mesmerizing and deeply affecting fable about womanhood in crisis and the often violent consequences of disrupting tradition, all set against the stunning backdrop of the Guatemalan highlands.