Entre Nos is a story of the immigrant experience that’s a harrowing tale of struggle, sacrifice and resilience. It’s all the more real because co-director Paola Mendoza based the story on her own mother’s experiences after arriving in the United States from Colombia.

Mendoza (whose co-director is Gloria La Morte) also plays the lead character, Mariana. She finds herself in dire straits in New York City after her husband leaves for a job in Miami and decides not to return, without explanation. Mariana is left penniless in Queens with two young children — Gabriel (Sebastian Villada), who is about 8, and his younger sister Andrea (Laura Montana), about 6.

The film begins on a festive note at a family party, although it’s clear from the way her husband barks orders at the beleaguered Mariana, who has followed him with the kids from Colombia, that all is not smooth. (There’s never any sense that any of them entered the U.S. illegally.) Soon afterwards, “Papi” announces that he’s leaving to take a job in Miami and that Mariana and the kids will not be accompanying him. Once out of sight he becomes incommunicado, refusing to return Mariana’s increasingly desperate phone calls.

Entre Nos, which translates as Between Us, soon goes from bleak to bleaker as Mariana’s problems mount. She tries at first to sell her empanadas (meat-and-vegetable-filled pastries) on the streets for $1 each, but with not much luck. She hangs out on street corners in hopes of snagging day work from employers who drive by. But with two kids in tow, no one wants to hire Mariana. She begins raiding trash cans and dumpsters, collecting empty soda and beer cans for their deposit refunds. The landlord kicks her out because her husband left without paying rent for three months. Homeless, she scrapes enough money together for a night in a motel room, but the family’s “dinner” — a bag of candy and a small bag of potato chips from a vending machine — leaves them hungry. Mariana and the kids begin sleeping on park benches and stairways. Topping it off, Mariana discovers that she’s pregnant.

The plight of immigrants with limited English is portrayed with poignancy and understanding in Entre Nos. But the important thing is that Mariana refuses to give up, forever looking for ways to survive, from carrying bags of empty cans to the recycling truck to begging food from the compassionate owner of a food wagon to getting the manager of an apartment building to bend a little when it comes to paying the weekly rent. Mendoza underlines Mariana’s resiliency and a resolve that’s admirable. For she hasn’t lost sight of the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how far away that may seem.

Entre Nos will be screened as part of the Newport International Film Festival at 9:45 p.m. Friday and 7:15 p.m. Saturday at the Opera House 2 cinema. Tickets, $10, are available at the festival box office at 22 Broadway or online at newportfilmfestival.com.

****Entre Nos

Starring: Paola Mendoza, Sebastian Villada, Laura Montana. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Rated: Not rated, contains adult themes, profanity.

mjanuson@projo.com