Directed by Iliana Sosa

Post-film Q&A with Director Iliana Sosa and Professor Ana Carrillo Baer & Professor Vanessa D. Higgins Joyce from Texas State University

At the age of 89, Julián takes one last bus ride to El Paso to visit his daughters and their children — a long trip he has made monthly for decades. After returning to rural Mexico, he quietly starts building a house in the lot next to his home. Can this new house bridge the distance between his loved ones? Director Iliana Sosa films her grandfather’s work, gently sifting through Julián’s previously unspoken memories revealing both the pragmatism and poetry of his life. WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND unfolds as a love letter to Julian and an intimate exploration of Iliana’s own relationship with him and his homeland. (71min, in English & Spanish with English subtitles)

2022 SXSW Winner of Fandor New Voices Award 
2022 NY Times Critics’ Pick
2022 Gotham Award Nominee for Best Documentary

“An astonishingly intimate labor of love.” — Filmmaker Magazine
“arresting from the start… an emotional roar”— Texas Observer

View Trailer HERE

— Presented in partnership with The Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University