A 16-year-old boy waited in line at the United States-Mexico border with two bottles of liquid methamphetamine in his backpack.
He reached the front and the border protection agents told him to show what was in his backpack. He pulled out the two water bottles and said it was juice. The agents asked him to prove that it was indeed juice, and to drink it.
The boy took four sips, as prompted by the agents.
Within hours, he was dead.
That is the plot of “Límite,” a film written and directed by George Nicholas and is to be shown on Aug. 8 at the Village Theatre.
The thing is, this film is based on a true story.
How it started
In 2013, a 16-year-old boy, Cruz Velazquez Acevedo, actually drank liquid methamphetamine at the direction of border protection agents. And he died within two hours.
In 2017, Nicholas saw an article that said the U.S. government had paid out $1 million in a settlement to Acevedo’s family, and the security footage of the exact moment he ingested the drugs was released to the public.
I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. And I knew I wanted to tell a story that put the viewer in the shoes of the kid.
George Nicholas, writer and director
“When you see these images and when you see these officers actually making the kid drink this, it really hit me,” Nicholas said. “I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. And I knew I wanted to tell a story that put the viewer in the shoes of the kid.”
In 2023, the project finally came to fruition.
Nicholas made the film to be a fictional drama inspired by this true event, with more of a backstory for the main character, the 16-year-old boy, in order for the audience to understand the boy better, he said.
“I wanted the audience to become invested in his life and the people around him,” the director explained, wanting viewers to empathize with why the boy did what he did.
Even though the story took six years to grow, finding Nicholas’ lead actor came a lot quicker.
21-year-old Mexican actor Gustavo Cruz played Manuel, the character based off of Acevedo.
How it went
Cruz was one of the first that sent in his audition tape and Nicholas knew instantly that he was the one to play Acevedo.
“It was my first project in main character,” Cruz said, his smile lines deep around his mouth. The native of Monterrey, in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, added that he was hesitant about taking the role because Tijuana is such “a long way to go.” His accent is strong but his English is steady.
Nicholas and his wife and producer of the film, Eliza Bonev, both Bulgarian-Americans based in Santa Monica, planned to stay in Tijuana with Cruz and the crew for a month while working on the film.
Bonev said she and Nicholas had been to Tijuana multiple times at that point but recognized that it would be challenging to film in a foreign country without the support of a big studio.
At first, Cruz’s parents weren’t so sure about letting him go to Tijuana. But the young actor, who had just turned 21, made it to the border town and experienced a culture shock before getting to work.
Cruz said people had told him Tijuana was just a border town – a place for crossing over into San Diego – and not a big touristy city like Monterrey. But, when he got there, the size and energy of the place blew him away: “Wow, it was like another world.”
Nicholas, on the other hand, said Tijuana reminded him a little bit of the city of Plovdiv, where he grew up in Bulgaria, a country in the Balkans.
“It’s a little crazier, but the chaos is similar,” Nicholas said, the corners of his lips ever so slightly curled up in the faintest grin and a teasing glint in his eyes, giving him a boyish and unreadable expression, apparent even through the Zoom screen.
Bulgaria in the ’90s was a dangerous place, and run by their version of the cartel, the mafia, Nicholas continued. He remembers growing up as a 12-year-old there and seeing “gangsters” in their expensive cars and thinking ‘Wow, OK. This is the way to make it. You become one of those guys.’
“I really understood the appeal of that and, you know, I could imagine how a 16-year-old would get pulled into that world with either a new pair of sneakers or, in some [other] way that they would get you,” Nicholas said.
In the film, Nicholas relates this experience to Manuel, a boy who realizes he doesn’t have a lot and wants more, allowing the cartel leader to give him a $100 in exchange for completing this task for him.
Cruz did not have a similar experience growing up but he understood why his character in the film, Manuel, and in turn, Acevedo, would’ve been seduced into this world.
“Manuel is just a teenager, and he does some stupid acts, like everyone has,” Cruz admitted. “He’s just someone that’s looking for his place in the world, he just wants to be somebody. Yeah, I was just like that.”
How it ended
Both Cruz and Nicholas hope that “Límite” will change the perception about juveniles who are used by cartels for smuggling.
“After people have seen the film, they say, ‘You know, I never thought of these kids as victims. I always thought of them as criminals,’” Nicholas recalled. “And seeing people change their perspective as a result of this film is the biggest reward.”
Bonev said she knew how important it was for Nicholas to tell this particular story and wanted to help him make this film happen.
“Horrific things happen every day,” Bonev said in an email, and that people learn to dissociate so they can survive. “Putting a face to a story like this helps people relate and empathize…It becomes hard to ignore it.
I hope that bringing light to what’s happening at the border through art will remind people to care for each other a little more.
Eliza Bonev, producer
“I hope that bringing light to what’s happening at the border through art will remind people to care for each other a little more.”
In 2017, when the settlement was paid out and articles were published, it was revealed that the two border protection agents that confronted Acevedo had not received any reprimand and were still working at their posts.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection was not able to be reached for this story.
The “Límite” picture, which lasts 40 minutes, went through the film festival circuit in 2023 and 2024 and gathered five wins, including awards for best director and best international featurette. It also was nominated for best short film, best narrative short and best actor featurette.
Nicholas also submitted it to the Coronado Island Film Festival where he awaits word on whether it will be accepted and shown at this year’s festival on Nov. 6-10.
In the meantime, some of the cast and crew will be at the Aug. 8 showing Village Theatre, where they plan to participate in a question and answer period post screening.
