Leaving El Paso, Texas, five years ago, Iliana Sosa knew she would one day return to her hometown.
Sosa graduated in 2012 with a master of fine arts in film production and directing from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. Sosa is now based in Los Angeles.
Her thesis film “Child of the Desert,” which won Best Short Film at the 2012 USA Film Festival, is featured at this year’s White Sands International Film Festival.
Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Sosa is a film director and writer whose work focuses on the issues of marginalized communities and is inspired by her experience living in a border town.
“Because El Paso is a border town, it is a very bicultural place. Mexico is only a 10- to 15-minute drive,” Sosa said. “Living there, hearing Spanish all around, coming from a working class (family) has really influenced me. There is just an interesting vitality about the place, and visually it’s beautiful. It’s not like any part of Texas.”
This duality of cultures in El Paso helped ignite the story behind “Child of the Desert.”
Shot in El Paso, “Child of the Desert” follows a military mother who journeys through the Texas desert to see the resting site of her son. While doing so, she encounters and forms an unexpected bond with Jorge, an undocumented immigrant who only speaks Spanish.
The idea behind Sosa’s film comes partially from her personal experience being in an interracial relationship that has endured long-distance circumstances because of military duties.
Although her boyfriend is white and comes from a different culture than her, Sosa said it’s the connection she’s made with him that exemplifies a portion of the film’s humanity.
“I think that’s what I was trying to capture with this film: Even though these two characters are from different cultures or don’t even speak the same language, they still find some common ground,” Sosa said. “They still have a point of humanity. I wanted to show we still have to share humanity.”
Jessica McMunn, the film’s assistant director and a graduate student at TFT, said the personal aspects of Sosa’s work are what sparked their mutual friendship.
“One of the very first films I saw by her was so powerful. I knew we would work well together,” McMunn said. “Her work is very honest. A lot of it comes from her life experience, and in that way I think she really touches people in a way she doesn’t even realize.”
Produced in 2011, the film took six days in total to film, whereas both pre- and post-production took more than a couple of months.
“The time period that we had working on this film really allowed us to discover where our tastes overlapped and see how we could really interpret that together,” said Judy Phu, the film’s director of cinematography and a TFT student.
While the amount of time available allowed Phu and Sosa to collaborate efficiently, it was Sosa’s work ethic that really impressed Phu.
“She’s incredibly talented and has a strong vision, but she also believes others will interpret it well too. Not many directors are like that,” Phu said. “Our collaboration was beautiful, because I was given the opportunity to have the room and creativity to do what I wanted.”
Both Phu and McMunn have continued to maintain their relationships with Sosa by working on Sosa’s latest film “Detained in the Desert,” which focuses on the plight of immigrants.
Ultimately, as Sosa works on other projects, she says she has bigger plans for “Child of the Desert.”
“I would really love to develop it into a feature. That’s the ultimate goal. I might also go back to El Paso or make documentaries,” Sosa said. “In the end, I just really want to keep making work … that hopefully people can take something out of.”