The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “What We Leave Behind,” a documentary by Iliana Sosa that examines her relationship with her grandfather and his homeland. The screening is at 7 p.m. Friday, June 2, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.
The film is about Julian, 89, who takes one last bus ride to El Paso to visit his daughters and their children. It is 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? Over several years, director Sosa films her grandfather’s work, gently sifting through Julián’s previously unspoken memories brought up by the construction project and revealing both the daily pragmatism and poetry of his life, according to information at rottentomatoes.com.
The Friday Night Film Series is made possible in part by a grant from the Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation at SFA. The series is also sponsored in part by filmmaking Professor William Arscott.
The Cole Art Center, SFA’s historic downtown gallery, is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.
