Patricia Riggen, Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna)

With a Masters degree in filmmaking and screenwriting from Columbia University, Patricia Riggen's long career as a Mexican documentarian and producer ended as she embarked on an international stage, winning several awards, including the student Academy Award Gold Medal for her college film, The Cornfield. Her feature directorial debut Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), a hit at Sundance in 2007, is a breezy, fantastic mix of romance, comedy and familial love on the not-cheery subject of illegal immigration that works primarily because of the masterful tone of the filmmakers and an ideal cast led by then-11-year-old Adrian Alonso and Mexico's telenova star Kate del Castillo.

•