On the notorious border of El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Mexico, an off-road culture thrives in the untamed dunes of the Chihuahuan desert. Red Sands is about the singular identity of an intergenerational community and the scene they’ve created in a desert known for its red hues. The Mexican-American population finds solace through off-roading, using the desert dunes as a canvas to imprint their unique identities. The film follows characters from the past and present reflecting on their journey while headlines of danger loom overhead, threatening the very space in which their identity is rooted. Red Sands pulls the viewer into an exhilarating never-before-seen world, highlighting the resilience and beauty in a place mostly unknown to outsiders.
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The Team
Director + Producer: Romina Cenisio
Romina Cenisio’s work examines the preservation of complex identities and subjects on the fringe of existence. The daughter of working-class immigrants from Southern Italy who found themselves as factory workers in Cd Juárez, she was raised in El Paso among three cultures: Italian, Mexican and Texan. Red Sands is her directorial debut. She is an accomplished art director and graphic designer with over 15 years of experience. Most recently, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Atmos, directed a digital nature therapy series for Soho House, collaborated with NatGeo, and created international editorial video campaigns for Claire’s and Rihanna. rominacenisio.com
Cinematographer + Producer: Sean Mattison
Sean Mattison is an Emmy® award-winning director, producer, and cinematographer. His directing work has been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, El País, and The Fader. His NYT Op-Doc Atención! Murderer Next Door, received a 2021 News & Documentary Emmy Award. As a cinematographer he has worked on over a dozen documentary features and series, including the Oscar shortlisted Descendant and the viral hit Tiger King. In 2016, he co-produced the Netflix true crime documentary Sour Grapes. His first feature length directorial effort, Petro, received an honorable mention for the Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival. seanmattison.com
Editor: Dan Roman
Dan Roman is an accomplished first-generation Cuban-American editor based in Los Angeles with over 14 years of experience in feature documentary, scripted narrative, and commercial/branded post-production. His editorial work has garnered multiple CLIOs and Webbys as well as official selections in Slamdance, SFFILM, MountainFilm, BANFF, and Morelía – winning Best Short Film at BANFF for WOOD HOOD, the Golden Gate Award at the 65th SFFILM Festival for HALF–DAY, Best Feature Documentary at the Brooklyn Film Festival for IMPOSSIBLE TOWN and receiving the Honorable Mention for Feature Documentary at Slamdance in 2024 for PETRO.
Editor + Writer: Andrea Cruz
Andrea Cruz is a Mexican-American documentary editor based in Los Angeles and Mexico City. With more than a decade of experience, she is committed to amplifying systematically marginalised voices in her work. Her editing on the film Translators, directed by Rudy Valdez, premiered at LALIFF in 2023, won the Best Short Documentary award at Tribeca X, and received a Gold Cannes Lion. A passionate advocate for diversity in the industry, Andrea is a proud alumna of the Karen Schmeer Diversity in the Edit Room Fellowship, DCTV's Documentary Work-In-Progress Lab with facilitator Yance Ford, and The Gotham Documentary Feature Lab. Her work has been showcased at festivals including TIFF, Berlin International Film Festival, Tribeca, New Orleans Film Festival, among others.
Original Score: Aaron David Ross
New York based artist and composer Aaron David Ross (ADR) has spent over 15 years in high-profile, genre-non-compliant collaborations across electronic music, fine art, fashion and film. Often maneuvering between multiple styles and contexts—whether as a solo artist, film composer, music technologist, producer, or part of the duo project Gatekeeper—ADR is known for a breadth of vision underpinned by a consistently beguiling production style. As an artist preoccupied with music's affective potentiality, ADR's ongoing collaborative projects have been exhibited and performed globally, hosted by many of the world's premiere venues, festivals and arts institutions. Recent collaborations include artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Kelela, Ryan Trecartin, Kelsey Lu, and Telfar. a-d-r.net
News
The world premiere of Red Sands will be held at SXSW Film Festival in March 2025 where it is also entered in the Texas Shorts Competition.
