To bring peace to families from Central America who’ve lost their loved ones, the humanitarian organization Aguilas del Desierto scour the treacherous Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona, searching for the remains of migrants who have gone missing. Theirs is a daunting mission.
“It’s physically difficult. They get calls to find specific people, and that’s like finding pins in a haystack,” said Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, who, with Maite Zubiaurre, documented the volunteer searchers’ mission in the short film “Aguilas (Eagles).” It’s part of the 29th San Diego Latino Film Festival, which opens today and runs through March 20. “But they’re motivated to work on behalf of the families who have no information and no resources. They’re trying to give peace of mind. That’s what keeps them doing what they’re doing.”
Filmmakers Guevara-Flanagan and Zubiaurre, both on the faculty of the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, shot “Aguilas” over the course of a year and a half.
“I felt like any opportunity to show stories where people are taking action is valuable and important,” said Guevara-Flanagan, “and that the search itself would be a way that audiences could directly connect with the path of the migrants themselves and better understand why they take the risks they do, and that it’s not done lightly.”
The riveting, 14-minute-long “Aguilas,” an award winner at the South by Southwest Film Festival last year, will screen Saturday at 11:15 a.m. at AMC Mission Valley.
The San Diego Latino Film Festival, being held in person for the first time since 2019, is featuring 160-plus films from Latin America and the U.S., including both features and shorts.