'EL VELADOR'

The documentary "El Velador" ("The Night Watchman") (unrated, in subtitled Spanish) is an eerie look at the human cost of Mexico's drug wars. Filmmaker Natalia Almada turns her lens on a narco-cemetery in Culiacan, the capital of crime-ridden Sinaloa. The film records funeral processions, young fatherless families weeping, and the quiet, observant caretaker Martin, guarding the ostentatious mausoleums of the region's top crime lords and the humble gravesites of their victims. Almada will be on hand Friday at Walker Art Center to introduce her film and take questions following the screening. It also airs in the Twin Cities on TPT-Channel 2 at 11 p.m. Sunday. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Walker Cinema, 1750 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $7-$9 at the box office, or Walkerart.org).

COLIN COVERT