Eric Aviles
A shocking tragedy sends Mara down a path of sin, redemption, grace, and evil. Barefoot to Jerusalem is the story of a woman struggling to face her deepest desires, her darkest fears, and ultimately, the devil.
In the gang infested neighborhoods nearby Chicago's Little Village, Raul follows in the footsteps of his older brother Freddy. Raul's destiny as a member of the Latin Crowns street gang seems predetermined, but when he falls in love with an innocent young woman and his brother is shot under questionable circumstances, Raul decides to leave the gang. This quest to go straight becomes more and more difficult as he finds himself entangled with the newest member of the gang, and as the violence of their day to day life on the street intensifies. When the gang begins to fall apart around him, Raul's loyalty is questioned on every front and he becomes caught in the middle of a spiraling series of events that jeopardize every aspect of his life.
A group of young Puerto Ricans in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood grapple with issues of identity: A beauty queen may need to mask her ethnicity; a college student falls for a bad boy; a real estate agent resists exploiting his roots.
