A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

• Crime
• Drama

A poignant drama refracted through the hazy lens of memory, *A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints* isn’t a typical gangster tale, but a wistful exploration of fractured paternal bonds and the enduring weight of a violent upbringing. The film interweaves present-day Dito's authorial success with fragmented, sun-drenched flashbacks to his youth amongst a tightly-knit group navigating a distinctly unforgiving 1980s Queens. It's a story less about escalating crime and more about the quiet desperation of men trapped by circumstance, and the slow, painful process of understanding – and perhaps forgiving – the flawed figures who shaped them. The narrative centers on the chasm between the idealized saintly figures of religious iconography and the deeply imperfect, often brutal realities of the men who attempt to embody fatherhood, leading to a subtly heartbreaking meditation on cycles of abuse and the possibility of breaking free.