Andrea Zarate

And He Was Mexican

Currently in development.

“And He Was Mexican” investigates the life and social impact of serial killer Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, a Mexican immigrant that swept through America by train and took the lives of at least 15 people during the 1990s. Reséndiz, a small and unassuming teenager, first crossed the US-Mexico border at age 14 with the hope of capturing the ever-allusive American Dream. But after years of emotional and physical trauma, along with a growing disillusionment for America and its privileged inhabitants, Reséndiz’s life began to spiral out of control and culminated in a nationwide manhunt that landed him on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. His eventual surrender to the Texas Rangers made way for a media frenzy of a trial that found Reséndiz guilty and sentenced him to death, which was carried out by lethal injection in Huntsville, TX. During a time when Mexicans are viewed as either “narcos,” “bad hombres,” or innocent, hard-working immigrants, this feature documentary re-examines a cultural moment at the borderlands, presenting a nuanced story on Mexican identity and migration at the turn of the millennium.

ANDREA ZARATE - Director, Producer

Andrea Zarate is a Xicana director and producer whose work examines the hardships in women’s lives. Her films, Susana Almanza: The Life of an Activist, This Is What We Do, and Santa Madre Sálvanos, have been screened at Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, Houston Latino Film Festival, Señorita Cinema Latina Film Festival, and many more. She was the producer for the Austin PBS Women and Girls Lead documentary series. She is also a Culture Alive award recipient, which is a funding initiative through the City of Austin designed to support a variety of artistic expressions and traditions practiced within diverse African American, Latino, Asian, Native American communities. Andrea was recently selected as a mentee for the NALIP’s 2020 Diverse Women in Media Forum Mentorship Program.

JUAN A. IZAGUIRRE - Director, Producer, Director of Photography

Juan A. Izaguirre is a Mexican-American filmmaker that works in both the narrative and documentary realms of filmmaking. He holds a BS from the University of Texas at Austin’s Radio-Television-Film department. His films Para Vivir and This Is What We Do have premiered at film festivals, such as Cannes Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival, Cine Las Americas International Film Festival. He served as producer, cinematographer, and editor for Austin PBS’ Lone Star Emmy Award-winning arts documentary series, Arts In Context. He was also a contributing cinematographer for Building the American Dream, which premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival. He was selected for the American Society of Cinematographer’s 2020 Vision Mentorship program and is currently the Directory of Photography for Austin Black Freedom Communities (working title), which documents the rich history of Black people in Austin, and is currently in production. Through evocative and purposeful imagery, Juan focuses his lens on stories surrounding identity and its intersections with ethnicity, sexuality, and gender norms within our communities.