After filmmaker Iliana Sosa’s grandfather, Julián, is told that he can no longer travel to the U.S. to visit family, he begins building a new house in his rural Mexican hometown that he says will be for the whole family once he’s gone. WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND follows Julien in the twilight of his life, as his granddaughter pieces together how their transnational family has built and rebuilt their home over decades of separation.
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 has 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. In the absence of his physical visits, can this new house bridge the distance between his loved ones?
Iliana Sosa is an Austin-based filmmaker raised in El Paso, Texas, by Mexican immigrant parents. Her work has screened at festivals and museums including SXSW, Full Frame, Camden, Morelia, and the Museum of the Moving Image, and she's held fellowships and residencies with Firelight Media, Sundance Institute, Berlinale Talents, Logan Nonfiction Program, and Jacob Burns Film Center. Her Gotham Award-nominated debut feature What We Leave Behind (ARRAY Releasing) won two awards at SXSW 2022 and was a New York Times "Critic's Pick." It's currently available to stream on Netflix. She was one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and one of DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40."
