Books
Acclaimed Mockumentary “A Day Without a Mexican” Hits Streaming, Timed Perfectly for the Exploding Immigration Debate as Trump Takes Office
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Originally released in 2004, “A Day Without a Mexican” presents a whimsical yet poignant scenario where all the people of Mexican descent in California inexplicably disappear. As the day unfolds, the film explores themes of identity, immigration, and mostly, the indispensable roles these individuals play in society—from agriculture and service industries to professionals and entertainers.
This timely re-release aims to engage a new generation of viewers while prompting critical conversations about community dynamics and cultural contributions.
Newly restored and re-mastered in HD from its original 35mm elements, audiences will be able to experience (or re-experience) this unique narrative for the first time in years.
“A Day Without a Mexican” has received praise for its clever humor and insightful commentary. The film invites viewers to consider what life would be like without those who often go unnoticed, making it a must-watch for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of a contemporary society, sometimes overly obsessed with a simplistic version of identity.
Launched in 2004 with an ad campaign that played on the sensitivity of the subject, the film attracted extensive coverage from CNN, the CBS Evening News, the Fox Network and more. English- and Spanish-speaking audiences alike flocked to see the film, which garnered an impressive box office gross in its first limited domestic release; its U.S. distributor, Xenon Pictures, shipped over 500,000 units in the film’s initial DVD release.
The title continued to be a strong performer in the ensuing years, however as the home entertainment marketplace evolved from physical into streaming media, the licensing agreements then in-effect left the film in limbo, and its availability suffered. Recently, Xenon and the film’s creators—producers Sergio Arau and Yareli Arizmendi—hammered out an agreement to get the film back out to the public. Arau and Arizmendi co-wrote, and Arau (son of famed Mexican director Alfonso Arau) directed.
“Re-releasing ‘A Day Without a Mexican’ is our way of adding clarity to the murkiness and hatefulness that has taken hold of our world,” said writer/producer Arizmendi. “This very serious comedy invites all to pause, think, and pull the curtain back on fake. Its message is more relevant today than it was when it first premiered. We hope it inspires conversations and reflections on the value of the unseen in our communities.”
While a broad rollout is scheduled for January next year as the Trump administration begins enacting its border policies, the film is currently available for streaming exclusively on adaywithoutamexican.com.
Next in the pipeline from the Xenon Pictures/Arau-Arizmendi collaboration is the pair’s follow up mockumentary ¡Naco es chido!, a “mostly based on true events” history of Arau’s popular “Guacarock” band, Botellita de Jerez.
For more information, trailers, and behind-the-scenes content, visit adaywithoutamexican.com.
Filmmaking team of Sergio Arau and Yareli Arizmendi are available for interviews.
The film is rated R for language and brief sexuality. In English and Spanish, with optional Spanish subtitles.
PR Contact: Tyler Judd (tyler@xenonpictures.com)
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Books
Scottsdale Author Joe Reina’s New Novel Follows a Killer Who Gets Away With It
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Joe Reina has published a new novel, "Shadows over Scottsdale: An Unsolved Murder Mystery," built around a scenario true-crime statistics make uncomfortably familiar: a man commits a devastating crime and simply disappears, leaving investigators and a grieving community with no resolution.
The book follows a character named Robert, who flees the country using forged documents and a cargo ship after an act of destruction that leaves behind, as the publisher describes it, charred remains and an unanswered investigation. The case goes cold. The novel, according to its publisher, is less concerned with the mechanics of the escape than with what happens afterward, to the people left waiting for answers that never come.
Reina, now retired in Scottsdale, spent decades in international business across apparel, footwear, and real estate, with extensive time in Europe and a particular connection to Italy that shaped two earlier books, "The Goat Sleeps in the Kitchen" and "A Love Affair in Tuscany." "Shadows over Scottsdale" marks a different direction, built instead around the real scale of unsolved homicide in the U.S. The publisher’s materials cite roughly 346,000 unsolved homicides since 1965, with more than a dozen occurring unresolved each day. Separate reporting on the book has cited a figure of about 7,778 murders in 2023 alone, which it similarly frames as more than a dozen a day going unresolved.
"Writing ‘Shadows over Scottsdale’ forced me to confront uncomfortable questions about justice itself," Reina said, according to the announcement. "Too many crimes go unsolved, too many families wait endlessly for answers. I wanted readers to understand that behind every cold case statistic is a real story, real suffering, and real questions that may never be answered."
The publisher positions the novel as an examination of institutional limits as much as a crime story: the toll of a case gone cold on the people who can’t move past it, and what it means for a community when accountability simply never arrives.
"Shadows over Scottsdale" is published by Covenant Books and is available in paperback and hardcover through the publisher’s website and major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.
Cold-case statistics tend to get cited and then forgotten. Studio CarryOnHarry is curious whether fiction built directly around that number does more to stick with a reader than the number alone ever does.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
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Books
Joe Reina’s ‘Lost Masterpieces’ Imagines a Fictional Farewell Among Renaissance Painters
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Joe Reina has published a new novel, "Lost Masterpieces: Three Paintings, 500 Years A Journey Through Time," built around an imagined scene from Renaissance history: the night before Leonardo da Vinci leaves for Milan, when three fellow painters each hand him a small work carrying a private message.
According to the announcement, those three gifts come from Sandro Botticelli, Titian, and Andrea Mantegna, each painting standing in for a different kind of counsel. Botticelli’s piece is described as layered with allegory and coded warnings about power and patronage. Titian’s is framed as warm and sensual, suggesting reinvention and a break from convention. Mantegna’s is austere and classically precise, encoding discipline and endurance. According to the announcement, these three paintings form a wordless exchange between masters, transmitting wisdom, mutual regard, and assurance across generations through visual means.
Reina comes to this material from outside the art world. His career was built in apparel, footwear, and real estate development in Chicago, and the publisher’s materials trace his interest in European history, and in Italy specifically, to years of international business travel. He has published several previous books, including "The Goat Sleeps in the Kitchen," "A Love Affair in Tuscany," and "Shadows over Scottsdale," before turning to this account of a fictionalized moment at the hinge of the Renaissance.
"I wanted to capture that extraordinary moment when masters speak to each other across time through their work," Reina said in the announcement. "These paintings represent not just gifts, but a conversation about what it means to pursue greatness while remaining grounded in purpose and principle."
The book is published through Covenant Books and is available in hardcover and paperback, as well as through Apple Books, Amazon, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble.
Studio CarryOnHarry is intrigued by novels that build fiction around real historical figures at a specific, dramatized turning point rather than attempting straight biography — the approach succeeds or fails based on how seamlessly the fictional moment integrates with documented historical fact.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
Are you an author with a new release? We’re always looking for books to cover and authors to interview — tell us about yours here.
Press Releases at Studio CarryOnHarry
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