New York, Aug 17 (IANS/EFE): Olga Segura and Hector Jimenez are proud of their work in "White Knight", a comedy in which two Mexicans manage to change the mentality of a Ku Klux Klan leader.

The movie is one of the highlights of this week's New York International Latino Film Festival.

The feature film marks Segura's debut in Hollywood, where she came ready to do whatever it might take to get started, and judging by the opportunities opening for her, she's doing it right.

"'White Knight' means many things to me - the beginning of a career, a lot of new opportunities and having our own production company, Producciones a Ciegas," founded by Segura, her brother Juan Carlos and Jimenez, with whom she previously made films in their native Mexico, the actress told EFE.

The film, inspired by the anti-immigrant feeling that prevails in writer/director Jesse Baget's native Arizona, tells the story of Leroy Lowe (Tom Sizemore), a member of the Ku Klux Klan sentenced to three years of hard labour on a prison farm.

The warden, played by Stacey Keach, is determined to rehabilitate him, and so chooses as his cellmate Emilio (Hector Jimenez), jailed for fighting for workers' rights.

Leroy, locked up in a small cell with the "enemy", gradually forgets his prejudices and his anger thanks to the talkative Emilio and his awakening love for Madalena (Segura), the Mexican cleaning woman.

Jimenez and Segura also got immersed in the project as co-producers when the film faced economic problems that could have kept it from ever being finished.