Director Sharon Arteaga’s new short film “In Tow” applies pressure to the mother-daughter dynamic by trapping them in their mobile home being repossessed.
The film has been making the festival rounds and makes its homecoming debut at the Austin Film Festival Oct. 27 and 31.
Arteaga says her family was often moving due to home insecurities and she chose to process the moment through comedy.
“I tend to process a lot of my feelings through more comedy,” Arteaga said. “For this one, I wanted to make an action/adventure short and just really play with the pacing of what financial instability and housing instability can sometimes feel like as a young person.”
» RELATED: The Texas-related movies at the Austin Film Festival may just be a hint of what’s to come
Arteaga says, as a Latina director, representation was important to her not just in front of the camera, but also behind it.
“I feel like as a Latina, you have a very different set of variables that you’re working up against. So to me it was really important to have Latinas at the forefront. My producers, Sommer Garcia Saqr and Chelsea Hernandez, they are power Latina producers and directors themselves, too.”
Premiering the film has become its own sort of opportunity to represent the Texas roots of the cast. Arteaga says cast members attending premieres will wear mums – eliciting some confused reactions when outside of the Lone Star State.
“Outside of Texas, it’s been cool having to explain like that very specific Texas culture,” Arteaga said.
Following its screening at the Austin Film Festival, “In Tow” will make the rounds next to the Rockport Film Festival and then to the Reel East Texas Film Festival.
