Mija by Isabel Castro
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has announced its official selection for this year's 25th edition, taking place virtually from April 7 to 10, 2022. The Durham, North Carolina-based festival will screen six U.S. Latinx and Latin American short and feature documentaries representing experiences and perspectives from Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S.
Selected to screen as part of the New Docs lineup are Abyssal by Cuban director Alejandro Alonso; Chilly & Milly by Los Angeles-based director William D. Caballero; Mija by Mexican-American director Isabel Castro; No Soy Oscár by Oakland-based director Jon Ayon; The Territory by New York-based Alex Pritz; and What We Leave Behind by Austin-based director Iliana Sosa.
A French production and winner of the Golden Dove Short Documentary Film Award at DOK Leipzig, Abyssal by Alejandro Alonso follows Raudel who lives and works in a ship-breaking yard in the west of Cuba. Haunted by a strange childhood memory, he is on the lookout for ghostly presences.
An official selection at Sundance and the Miami Film Festival, Chilly & Milly is an animated documentary about a devoted caretaker, her chronically ill husband, and the power of undying love. Eleven years after filming a documentary about his family, director William D. Caballero returns home to revisit scenes from his documentary with his parents, Chilly and Milly. When Chilly passes away during the pandemic, William and Milly must come to terms with their loss. No longer tasked with taking care of Chilly, Milly must find a new purpose in life.
Mija, the debut documentary by four-time Emmy-nominated Mexican-American filmmaker and journalist, Isabel Castro, follows Doris Muñoz, an ambitious music manager whose undocumented family depends on her ability to discover aspiring pop stars. At just 26, she has already launched multiple Chicanx musicians, carving out space for her culture within a turbulent industry. A favorite at Sundance, Mija dives into the world of a young woman hustling harder than anyone else, because for Doris and her family, “making it” isn't just a dream—it's a necessity.
No Soy Óscar by Jon Ayon follows a first-generation Latinx father on a journey through unceded lands in the border regions between the U.S. and Mexico in search of the place where Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his young daughter, Angie Valeria, drowned. The short film has previously played at the New York Latin Film Festival and Dallas International Film Festival.
A co-production between Brazil, Denmark, and the United States and made in collaboration with the Uru-eu-wau-wau indigenous community, The Territory by Alex Pitz tells the story of a network of Brazilian farmers who take control of a protected area of the Amazon rainforest, sparking conflict at the forest's edge. Pitz’s debut documentary, The Territory premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and chronicles the long history of struggle that Brazil’s indigenous communities have faced in attempting to protect their ancestral lands.
Finally, Iliana Sosa’s What We Leave Behind presents a moving take on the standard immigration story. At the age of 89, Julián takes one last bus ride to El Paso, Texas, to visit his daughters and their children—a lengthy trip he's made without fail every month for decades. After returning to rural Mexico, he quietly starts building a house in the empty lot next to his home. Director Iliana Sosa films her grandfather's work, gently sifting through Julián's previously unspoken memories and revealing both the pragmatism and poetry of his life. The documentary, and SXSW selection, unfolds as a love letter to her grandfather, as well as an intimate exploration of her own relationship with him and his homeland.
To read more about these selected films and to check out the complete lineup, visit fullframefest.org.
