Sansón and Me

Over the course of seven years of sharing letters and visiting him, Sanson and me have collaborated on a script for a series of reenactments narrating his tragic life story, spanning his childhood as a poor orphan in Mexico to his struggles to survive as a teenager in rural California. Slowly, the film begins to grow into an expansive portrait of the systemic failures impacting Sansón’s life as well as our developing friendship.

Year 2021 marks five centuries since Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire. 499 retraces the Spanish army’s route from Veracruz to Mexico City, following a fictional conquistador lost in modern times. Blending fact and fiction into a striking cinematic journey, 499 speaks to the ghosts of colonialism and their lingering presence in the issues facing contemporary Mexican reality.

In his first feature narrative, director Rodrigo Reyes uses non-professional actors, real Mexican migrants working in the California fields, to tell the story of Lupe, an aging farmworker who wants to return to Mexico one last time before he dies. Full of beautiful imagery and a poetic rhythm, Reyes offers a portrait of immigrant solitude and nostalgia, as Lupe faces the devastating consequences of chasing after the American dream.