Lake Tahoe

Sixteen-year-old Juan has had enough of his family – all the neverending problems and the rows – and so he leaps into the family car and takes off. Anything to get away! His escape ends up on the edge of town where he drives the red racer into a telegraph pole. He rings home and his little brother Joaquín answers. Nothing has changed. His mother is still locked in the bathroom … Juan hangs up. He’d better find someone to repair the car. He comes across Don Heber, a latent paranoid mechanic who lives with his dog, Sica. The mechanic’s clever boxer accompanies Juan on his search for a missing car part; once Juan has found it, Don can begin repairing the car. Before long, Juan and Sica find a spares dealer, “Refaccionaria Oriente” – just the right place to find rare parts for overworked cars. Behind the counter is a young girl – a punk. Lucía may know all there is to know about punk music but she knows absolutely nothing about panels, coolers and carburettors. And so they have to wait for someone who does know about these things. David, a teenager and kung fu fan, turns out to be an expert in all things mechanical. In one single day the absurd and completely irreconcilable worlds of these people help Juan to understand that there are things that are as inevitable and inexplicable as death. The screenplay for LAKE TAHOE was created with support from the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab.