(To the Sea). Seemingly fused together with salt spray and sunlight, Alamar floats and bobs along with the rhythms of the surf as two men and a boy fish, prepare food, eat, sleep, work, and talk (barely) in a Mayan fishing community on the shores of the Mexican Caribbean. Seagulls flap inches from their heads, crabs and turtles scurry along the beach, sunsets and sunrises come and go, tides rise and fall-and a father, son, and grandfather watch the summer go by. If it sounds simple, it is, but such is the beauty of a film that casually draws together nature and man, documentary and fiction, as if the art of moviemaking were the most innate, heartfelt act in the world. “I was inspired by the simplicity of happiness,” says director Pedro González-Rubio. Alamar is a crowning example of the renaissance in Mexican independent film, and a memorable testament to the fact that cinema can still draw inspiration from, and dare to capture, the simplicity of happiness.-Jason Sanders

• Written, photographed by González-Rubio. With Jorge Machado, Roberta Palombini, Natan Machado Palombini, Nestor Marín “Matraca.” (73 mins, In Spanish and Italian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Film Movement)

Preceded by shorts:
Tropical Breeze (Mika Rottenberg, U.S., 2004). A woman's sweat is packaged and sold for profit in this satiric video piece, a combination of Rube Goldberg, Russ Meyer, and experimental art. (4 mins, Color, Video, From Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery)

A Crisis Passed in Sleep (Lucy Raven, U.S., 2005). This stop-motion animation was inspired by Walker Evans and James Agee's collaborative study of dustbowl workers, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. (4 mins, Silent, B&W, Digital video, From the artist)