What We Leave Behind (2022)

Directed by

Iliana Sosa

Genre

documentary

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 11m

Rated

PG

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 3 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows an elderly man as he builds a house in rural Mexico. He reflects on his life journey and reconnects with his granddaughter during the process.

intimatecontemplativegentlereflectiveslow-pacedpersonalnostalgicgrounded

What happens

What We Leave Behind is a 2022 documentary film directed by Iliana Sosa. The film is a portrait of Sosa's grandfather, Julián Moreno, as he starts building a house in the Mexican state of Durango. As a younger man, Julián had spent decades living between the United States and Mexico, first working as a bracero and later traveling by bus to visit his children and grandchildren in the Southwestern United States. In the film, Julián revisits this past with his granddaughter as the two forge a tighter bond together. Voiceovers from the director punctuate the film and pair with imagery of the local landscape; the soundtrack features an a cappella song by the Cardencheros de Sapioriz, who are also from Durango. The film received development, production, and post-production support from several institutions, including the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms, the Sundance Institute, the IDA, the Austin Film Society, the True/False & Catapult Rough Cut Retreat, the Jacob Burns Film Center, the Gotham Documentary Lab, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Ji.hlava New Visions Forum. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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