This year, Moody Magazine hosted it’s first-ever Moody Magazine Student Film Competition. Each submission was written and directed by Moody students and was 10 minutes or less. Communication Council general members voted from a comprehensive criteria analyzing the technical and thematic elements of each film. We are pleased to announced that Sombras, written and directed by Sofia Alejandro in her Latinx filmmaking class, is our winner! This film, inspired by Alejandro’s Mexican heritage, follows a heart-warming story of a mariachi singer. Follow along our Q&A with Alejandro to get a peak into the creation of Sombras.

Poncho Carrillo: Where did some Sombras come from, and how did this idea come to life? 

Sofia Alejandro: Sombras was inspired by my father. Ever since I was little, he would sing me all these mariachi songs. We’re an immigrant family from Monterrey, Mexico, and since we had to move to the U.S., my dad had to give up his passion of becoming a mariachi singer in order to provide for our family. He has this beautiful voice that he just doesn’t get to practice — he’ll only sing to me or our family. I wanted to use this film as a chance for him to be able to express that and have like an outlet for him — to be able to put that traje (mariachi suit) on and be able to sing and do something that he’s always wanted to do. 

Carrillo: How did your cast and crew come together, and what was the collaboration during this process? 

Alejandro: I have a couple of friends that I shared the idea with and a lot of people in my Latinx filmmaking class were up for working with this idea. As for the folklorico dancers, we work with this organization in Austin called Roy Los Ano Furico, and they were able to get us in contact with a high school here that has a folklorico team. My DP, we’ve been friends since high school, and when I told him about the project, he was also very inspired and wanted to come along as well. 

Carrillo: Could you expand on how the Latinx filmmaking class supported your script-to-screen transition? 

Alejandro: We actually had a private donor for the Latinx filmmaking class, and they donated some money so that each project could have at least some funding. A lot of those projects weren’t gonna be able to get done without that money, so that private donation meant a lot to us. I feel like the Latinx filmmaking class does support itself because I feel like it harbored the community that isn’t usually here at UT. We all supported each other. 

Carrillo: How did your professor play a role in cultivating that environment? 

Alejandro: So, first of all, I love Iliana Sosa. She’s one of my favorite professors here at UT. She helped welcome the Latinx filmmaking as a community itself. She did have a lot of connections. She was able to get us in contact with the director of Frida, and she also got a guest speaker session with Elizabeth Avellán who is a producer for Troublemaker Studios. They were able to answer a lot of questions for us. They helped us feel safe to be able to be Latino and in film, and show us, ‘Hey, you guys have opportunities in the industry,’ even if we don’t see that. 

Carrillo: Sombras is getting some major recognition. What’s that like as a student filmmaker?

Alejandro: I submitted Sombras to Cine Las Americas, which is my favorite film festival here in Austin. When I got in, I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s so crazy, people actually like my film.’ As a student, that gave me more motivation being like, ‘There is an audience out there for me and there are people who love these ideas and want to celebrate that with me.’ I also went to The Front Festival, which is more of like a showcase here in Austin. I was able to meet so many other Austin filmmakers, and get more opportunities to connect with the filmmaking community in Austin. You get to meet some of the coolest people ever. 

Carrillo: As a senior RTF student, what advice would you give to RTF students trying to find their way in this huge industry? 

Alejandro: Explore and take advantage of the opportunities and the friendships that you make here at UT. Make friends and just put yourself out there and meet people who have similar taste to you. I feel like because of the Latinx filmmaking class, I was able to form this really tightly knit friend group, and we all just crew for each other’s films. We all highly support each other for everything — not even just films — we formed such a good friendship. When you find something like that, that sticks with you for the rest of your career.

Watch Sombras Here: https://vimeo.com/1077840444