부산대학교 도서관

El Paso Native Laura Varela discusses her work as a filmmaker and artist. Her first person essay examines the influences and awareness of the world when growing up on the U.S.-Mexican border. Segundo de Febrero is a short documentary she directed from her home base in San Antonio, TX. It was filmed in 2017 at Christ the King Church, a historic Catholic parish deep in the West Side of San Antonio, a historic and predominantly Mexican American area of the city. Native and Mexican spiritual and cultural traditions continue to find a way. There is a unique mezcla, a mixture of cultures that emerges from populations resisting the mainstream narrative and returning or retaining traditional practices. The heart and soul of this city, of this region, derives from those who have crossed borders and who continue to cross them on a material and spiritual level. Mexican American culture has created a confluence of cultures and has shaped who we are to create something new. Following is a photo essay presenting some of the essential images of the documentary, presenting part of the film’s transcript together with the photos.