I had planned to do an interview with Freeing Juanita Director Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers in early May, but he tragically died while surfing off Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York on Saturday, April 12. So, I reached out to Sebastián’s dad Paul Rogers and he connected me with Tristan Philip Call, who is one of the producers of Freeing Juanita. Here is the interview I did with him:
Nigrin: Freeing Juanita is a feature length documentary that tells the story of the unjust detainment of migrants through the focus of one woman. Please tell us how the filmmaker Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers got involved in making this film?
Call: Sebastián originally got involved in the film through an invitation from Tristan Call, now the film's producer, but who then was a volunteer with Promotores de la Liberacion Migrante, an indigenous migrant rights collective in Guatemala. The collective was several months into a quickly-escalating international campaign to free Juanita after being unjustly imprisoned in Mexico for 7 years, and needed to produce a video to tell the story of the campaign to international audiences. Tristan called Sebastián, an old friend, and invited him to accompany Juanita's family on their journey through Mexico, and the scenes he captured were so vivid and powerful that after Juanita's release the collective, the family, and Sebastián agreed to collaborate on a feature-length film!
Nigrin: Our judges really found the film very compelling. They all thought it was beautifully shot and edited. And they felt the film tells an important story especially given the current political climate. Can you tell us about the editor and DP and how they came to be involved in the project?
Call: Sebastián really had a major hand in each part of the project- the majority of the planning, camera work, and editing. But he also coordinated a larger team including the amazing Venezuelan editor Lorena Alvarado, who brought a really keen eye to the project and helped make difficult choices in the editing process.
Nigrin: Were there any difficulties in making the film that you can relay to us?
Call: There were many difficulties along the way! One major issue was that in order to go film in Reynosa we had to figure out how to safely travel with a film and advocacy team in one of the most dangerous and violent parts of Mexico, and while there, film Ana and Pedro's visit to the state prison. A variety of human rights organizations, and even representatives of the government, recommended we reconsider because they couldn't guarantee our safety. During that week, we heard that dozens of migrants with paperwork authorizing their presence in Mexico were being illegally detained at the Reynosa airport, their documents destroyed by officials, and illegally deported to southern Mexico (unfortunately the situation has gotten even worse in 2024 and 2025). But we went for it, knowing that thousands of migrants are compelled to travel through this region every day and it was important for us to capture those really intimate scenes of the family visit to this distant border prison in order to effectively mobilize public support for Juanita's release.
Nigrin: Are there any memorable stories while you made this film or any other info about your film or Sebastian that you would like to relay to us?
Call: Sebastián was a really patient, creative, and curious filmmaker who was really game for a challenge. At one point in northern Chiapas our convoy (a caravan of central american mothers denouncing the Mexican government's anti-immigrant policies and searching for their disappeared family members) was stuck at a blockade set up by local cattle ranchers in a dispute with the state government over cattle tagging and vaccination policies. We were stuck at the blockade for the better part of a day, and tensions rose- and Sebastián was in the middle of it, capturing incredible scenes of this confrontation between ranchers and truck drivers, a true sidequest along the route now documented in the Freeing Juanita film. No question, Juanita's return to San Mateo was also an incredible moment - seeing thousands of neighbors in this remote mountain town 16 hours from Guatemala City come together to support her as she returned home was deeply inspiring and was definitely the moment that things clicked for the film team and we were sure we had a real feature film in the making.
As a tribute to Sebastián I wanted to include this moving obituary by his father Paul Rogers: Sebastián Lasaosa Rogers, 35, died while surfing off Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York on Saturday, April 12, 2025. Born in New York City in 1990, he spent his first four years in Mexico City, and moved to Concord, Massachusetts in 1994 with his parents, Paul and Rosa, and his little sister Elena. He graduated from Concord Carlisle High School and spent a gap year teaching in Tanzania. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Archaeology and Film in 2012 from Vanderbilt University. His film career launched at Vanderbilt when he was asked by Ken Burns and Florentine Films to be an intern on the documentary Country Music. His other passion was social activism. He protested against water bottles on campus, endowments invested in South African land deals, War, Wall Street, and many other issues. He worked tirelessly for workers' rights, helping Latin American laborers negotiate with small contractors around Nashville to receive their weekly paychecks and Vanderbilt service staff to become full-time employees. He also volunteered on mobile food trucks bringing fresh vegetables and other provisions to food deserts within Nashville.
Sebastián moved to Brooklyn in 2015 continuing his career in film as a freelancer. His work can be seen online at Vimeo, Art21, PBS, and on his website sebastianlr.com. He was the cinematographer on the film “The Art of Making It," which screened at various film festivals and won the audience award at the SWSX Film Festival in 2022.
His latest project Freeing Juanita premiered at the Mexico City Film Festival in October, 2024, and will have its US West Coast premiere in May, 2025. It will also screen at the New Jersey International Film Festival on June 1, 2025, both in person and virtually.
Sebastián leaves behind his family, Paul, Rosa, and Elena, his aunts, Helene and Caroline, his partner Caitlin, Elena’s partner Dalton, and many cousins in Concord MA, around the USA, Canada, and Spain. He also leaves behind an enormous group of friends and colleagues across the world in film, social activism, surfing, and life. His joyful spirit, dedication, and interest in everything he did and everyone he met were endless. A recurring phrase that occurs from the many tributes that have come in is
“He was the best of us.”
Freeing Juanita – Sebastian Lasaosa Rogers (Brooklyn, New York) Juanita has been unjustly detained in Reynosa, Mexico for over seven years, accused of a crime she didn’t commit and forced to confess in a language she didn’t understand. This intimate portrait follows Ana and Pedro, Juanita’s aunt and uncle, on their thousand-mile journey from the highlands of Guatemala. With the help of their Maya Chuj community and a network of Maya interpreters, they fight for Juanita’s freedom and demand justice from the Mexican authorities, a cause that became internationally recognized for its defense of migrants’ rights and language justice. In Spanish, subtitled. 2024; 75 min.
Freeing Juanita will be screening as part of the New Jersey International Film Festival Short Documentary Program on Sunday, June 1, 2025 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. There will be a Q+A session with the producers after the in-person screening. Get more info here.
The 30th annual New Jersey International Film Festival will be taking place between May 30-June 13, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person when both are offered. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Kovacs will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, June 13 at 7PM! The in-person screenings and the Mike Kovacs concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.
For more info go here: https://2025newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome
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