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La Otra Familia

La Otra Familia (The Other Family) is a 2011 Mexican drama film directed and written by Gustavo Loza about a gay couple in Mexico City who take in Hendrix, a seven-year-old boy abandoned by his crack-addicted mother, and then seek to adopt him while the mother, her drug-dealer lover, and the child-welfare authorities each contest the boy's future.1 It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released in Mexico on 25 March 2011 on 350 copies, and it has been described as the first commercial national production with LGBT themes.2

Key factDetail
Director and writerGustavo Loza (Mexico, 1970), his fourth feature film1 • 3
Release25 March 2011 in Mexico, 350 copies, distributed by 20th Century Fox2 • 4
Main castJorge Salinas (Jean Paul), Luis Roberto Guzmán (Chema), Nailea Norvind (Nina), Ana Serradilla (Ivana), Bruno Loza (Hendrix)4
Box office in Mexico37,959 thousand pesos from 815,000 attendees on 373 screens in 20115
Worldwide grossUSD 3,297,256; running time 127 minutes4
Public fundingProduced with the EFICINE fiscal incentive under Article 226 of the Federal Income Tax Law1
AwardsThree Canacine awards in 2012, including Best Song for "Lléname de amor" by Benny Ibarra3
Mexican classificationB-15, admitting viewers aged 15 and over6

Spoilers

Plot

The film opens with the wedding of Jean Paul (Jorge Salinas) and Chema (Luis Roberto Guzmán), a couple who have been together for ten years and lead comfortable professional lives in Mexico City.7 • 8 Elsewhere in the city, Hendrix (Bruno Loza) is left alone for three days by his mother Nina (Nailea Norvind), who is addicted to crack cocaine. Her friend Ivana (Ana Serradilla) rescues the boy and places him with the couple, who gradually grow attached to him and want to adopt him legally.9

Nina is placed in a rehabilitation center, but her lover and dealer Patrick (Andrés Almeida), threatened over a growing debt to his suppliers, decides to sell Hendrix to a couple who have just lost their baby.9 • 10 Nina escapes the clinic to recover her son, while the authorities, to protect him, try to place him in an orphanage.10 The couple's care of the boy also draws the watchful attention of Doña Chuy (Carmen Salinas) and Gabino (Silverio Palacios).11 The film's stated subject is what makes a suitable home for a child, arguing that love and care matter more than a parent's sexual orientation.2

Interpretation and legacy

Academic commentary has read the film as a statement on new family configurations and on the rights of LGBTTTI subjects, showing that same-sex couples have the same capacities to form families.11 A study in the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies took a more critical view, arguing that the film excludes non-traditional kinships and cannot be considered queer in the critical sense of the term.22 A Redalyc-published article placed the film within a continuum of Mexican cinema responding to legal advances and the supposed social acceptance of LGBT people, noting that its couple is not representative of most of the gay Mexican population even though its images do not exclude marked difference from heteronormativity.16

The film has remained available on streaming services only sporadically: as of recent checks it was not streamable in Mexico or the United States, but was available in Germany on the OUTtv Amazon Channel.7

Production

Origins. Loza conceived the story in the screenwriting workshop of the Sundance Film Festival, founded by Robert Redford, and carried the idea for about four years before filming; he spent three of those years seeking backing because the subject matter raised fears among potential funders.12 • 3 He said he could not obtain support from the Fidecine or Foprocine funds, and the film was instead made with the EFICINE fiscal incentive of Article 226 of the Federal Income Tax Law.13 • 1

Crew and shooting. The film was shot between October and November 2009, with cinematography by Carlos Marcovich and editing by Camilo Abadía.14 • 1 It was produced by Matthias Ehrenberg and Ricardo Kleinbaum for Río Negro Producciones, with Barracuda Films also credited as a production company.1 • 15 The child actor Bruno Loza, who plays Hendrix, is the director's son.8

Timing with the law. The day after filming ended, the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District approved the law allowing same-sex marriage and adoption in Mexico City, which gave the film a topical weight at its release.12 Mexico City had in 2009 become the first place in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage and homoparental adoption.16

Release and reception

The film premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival in October 2010, where screenings drew full houses, before its commercial Mexican release on 25 March 2011.8 • 17 Fox International Productions acquired Latin American rights in June 2010, with rollout planned for the first half of 2011.18

Controversy. Before the premiere, Loza received threats and attacks on his moral integrity on Facebook because of the film's subject, and the release generated debate on social networks about adoption by gay couples.6 • 19 Critics divided along similar lines: the Cine PREMIERE review, which rated the film 3.5 of 5, praised Nailea Norvind's performance and the absence of caricature in the gay roles, while a Catholic-site review objected that the film presents homosexual couples as an ideal and heterosexual couples as troubled.20 • 9 On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.3.4

Box office. In 2011 the film sold about 815,000 tickets and earned 37,959 thousand pesos on 373 screens, placing it among the ten highest-grossing Mexican films of the year.5 • 3 IMDb records a worldwide gross of USD 3,297,256.4

Awards. At the eighth Canacine awards of the National Chamber of the Cinematographic Industry in 2012, the film won three statuettes, including Best Song for "Lléname de amor" by Benny Ibarra.3 The producer's site also lists it as winner of Best Picture at the Chicago Latino Film Festival.21

References

  1. La otra familia / The Other Family, Sistema de Información Cultural, Secretaría de Cultura
  2. Film mexicano reflexiona sobre la familia con padres del mismo sexo, LatAm cinema
  3. Tesis UAEMex: La otra familia, con recortes de prensa (Premios Canacine 2012, Proceso, El Universal)
  4. La otra familia (2011), IMDb
  5. Anuario IMCINE 2011: Películas mexicanas exhibidas
  6. "La otra familia" es atacada en Facebook, El Universal
  7. The Other Family streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch
  8. La otra familia aborda el tema de nuevas estructuras en la sociedad, El Universal
  9. La Otra Familia (Reseña cine), Encuentra
  10. A Outra Família, AdoroCinema
  11. Karen A. Hernández González, análisis de La otra familia, Repositorio UACM
  12. Una familia diferente, Gaceta UDG
  13. Estreno mexicano: La otra familia, El Séptimo Arte
  14. Ana Serradilla expone realidad social, El Informador
  15. Apéndice A, tesis UDLA (ficha de La otra familia)
  16. La otra familia de Gustavo Loza: imágenes gay, de la periferia a la normalización, Redalyc
  17. FICCM: La otra familia, cine de entretenimiento social, Corre Cámara
  18. FIP acquires Latin American rights to La Otra Familia, Screen Daily
  19. "La otra familia" causa polémica, Hora Cero / El Universal
  20. La otra familia, reseña, Cine PREMIERE
  21. La otra familia, Río Negro Producciones
  22. Homonormativización de las masculinidades gay: La otra familia (2011) de Gustavo Loza, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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