What We Leave Behind (film)
What We Leave Behind is a 2022 documentary film. It's a portrait of director Iliana 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. Reception The film premiered at SXSW, where it received the Fandor New Voices Award and the Louis Black "Lone Star" Award. It then screened at several other festivals, including Full