‘15: A Quinceañera Story’ Covers Some Of America’s Most Polarizing Debates Through Hope

What’s in a quinceañera? For some outside of the Latin American community, it’s an especially important birthday party. For others aware of this powerful and optimistic tradition, it’s a time to celebrate the transition from girl to woman. However, HBO’s latest docu-series takes a different approach. Through four short documentaries that spotlight five young women, 15: A Quinceañera Story tackles some of the most important issues of our day, from trans inclusion and rights to immigration. In this way, the property shows how the problems of today affect the adults of tomorrow all while casting young women in the center of some of the year’s most decisive political issues.

Directed by Matthew O’Neill and Thalía Sodi, each roughly half hour film follows a different young woman as she prepares for her quinceañera. At first glance, it would be easy to write off the property as being a spiritual sequel to other, far more vulgar and spoiled birthday documentaries like My Super Sweet 16. However, it’s important to trust HBO’s empathetic and discerning eye when it comes to 15: A Quinceañera Story. Though the series’ stories are framed against backdrops of picking out elaborate dresses and planning out slow dances, the show is quietly one of the most relatable and socially aware docu-series of the year.

For the purposes of this review, HBO only gave out the screeners for Zoey, which premiered on December 19, and Ashley, which will premiere on December 21. But both installments are remarkable in their own quietly optimistic way. Zoey follows a young Mexican-American woman who was assigned male at birth but who now identifies as trans. Zoey’s excitement about her quinceañera is infectious, and the loving way her family and community supports her makes for an immediately endearing watch. As the episode’s star happily jumps from dress fittings to doting over decorations, it’s easy to forget that Zoey’s upcoming party is all that remarkable. It’s only through interviews with her trans-madrinas who never had quinceañeras of their own that the film reveals how important this moment truly is. For Zoey, her quinceañera is about becoming a princess for a day — something that every little girl should have the opportunity to experience.

The tone of Ashley’s film is a bit more sad than Zoey’s. The documentary explains that ever since her father was deported when she was young, Ashley has looked up to her boxing coach as a role model. But a deportation trial threatens to remove him from her life prior to her quinceañera. Without giving away the ending, the episode puts a face and a story to American’s current immigration debate in a way very few arguments or documentaries do. Seeing Ashley’s worried expression is heartbreaking, and her letter to the judge is even more so. Her please are especially compelling when the documentary reminds you they’re coming from a girl who should only be concerned with her classroom crushes.

Despite handling these hot button topics, there’s a sweetness to 15: A Quinceañera Story that’s hard not to love. At its core, this is a documentary series about five girls on the path to adulthood. There are few stories more charming or relatable than that.

New installments of 15: A Quinceañera Story premiere on HBO from December 20 – 22 at 7 p.m. ET

Stream 15: A Quinceañera Story on HBO Go and HBO NOW