Anna Thomas

Mayan Indian peasants, tired of being thought of as nothing more than "brazos fuertes" ("strong arms", i.e., manual laborers) and organizing in an effort to improve their lot in life, are discovered by the Guatemalan army. After the army destroys their village and family, a brother and sister, teenagers who just barely escaped the massacre, decide they must flee to "El Norte" ("the North", i.e., the USA)... (imdb)

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930's. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the 50's. As the second generation become adults in the 60's, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent. (imdb)

Josie elopes with Jack against her father's wishes. Her father follows her to the hotel where they are staying and forces Josie to go with him. Jack in turn follows resulting in an accident that leaves her father dead. Marty her brother, who was despised by their father over something he did years ago, sees Jack while grieving over his father and then follows him to Europe where they were fighting the war and was about to kill Jack, when something happened that prevented him. (imdb)

This ghost story, set at the turn of the century, centers on the plight of elderly dowager Marianna, who is tormented by the alleged specter of a young man roaming the corridors of her mansion. After spotting a face in an old photograph that seems to match the old woman's description of the "visitor", Marianna's sister decides to check things out and see if any of this is for real. (imdb)