An elderly woman and a young prepubescent come together to form an unusual friendship in director Leopoldo Laborde's 2002 film A Beautiful Secret. Young Jorge (Imanol Landeta) -- a 12-year-old boy from a broken home -- accidentally kicks a ball onto elderly Esperanza's (Oscar nominee Katy Jurado in her final film role) property and has an unpleasant encounter with the lonely old maid as he attempts to retrieve his ball. Equally fascinated and antagonized by the unusual woman, Jorge starts to contrive ways to learn more about her and the dilapidated old mansion she lives in. For her part, Esperanza begins to secretly enjoy her meetings with the lad and reveals to him that once she was a writer whose circle of close friends included surrealist artists Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel, as well as muralist Diego Rivera. As Esperanza draws vitality from her youthful friend, she imparts in the youngster a sense of staying true to oneself and dreaming big. A Beautiful Secret premiered at the 2002 Los Angeles Latino Film Festival.