Cast and crew after scene one This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. Today we’re sharing the diary of Leo Aguirre, who traveled to the Lab with Verano. Here’s the description: “An unruly teenager’s summer plans are upended when his parents decide to foster an adolescent from Central America who is seeking asylum in the United States. As the two teens realize they must share more than just a bedroom, they are forced to confront their differences amid their harsh realities.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
JUNE 1: Couldn’t get any sleep before my flight, so both the flight from New York and the arrival felt extremely surreal. To top it off, I promised Chloe Sarbib that I would wear a white suit the entire lab so that, by the end of it, I’d be walking around in a tattered, dirty off-white suit (like Arthur’s in La Chimera). Arrived at the Stanley Hotel and was immediately entranced by the wooden walls and the burgundy carpets. Reuniting with the screenwriting fellows and the institute staff felt like coming home. We had our circle meet-up and voiced our fears, goals and everything we’re trying to understand about our material. Ended the day by watching Sneakers in the auditorium—a great heist film. Campy in the best way. We need more films like Sneakers.
JUNE 2: Caught some sleep but still feeling exhausted—probably because of the altitude. The mountains are beautiful and majestic, serving as a wonderful reminder of the vastness of Mother Nature. It makes my film feel insignificant in some ways, yet also reminds me of the vastness I want to encapsulate in it. We had an acting workshop today with the legendary Joan Darling alongside Estes Tarver. We performed monologues we’d prepared before the lab—some from movies, some from plays. I think we all really want to be actors. Editors and DPs showed up, and it was great to see some familiar faces. Cole Graham is my DP for the lab, and we’ve known each other for years, so I feel extra excited to get to work. We screened our short films in the auditorium, and I was emotionally transported back to the Screenwriting Lab in January, thinking about how amazing it is that we’re all together again, now screening scenes from scripts on the big screen.
JUNE 3: Still tired, but eager to start. In the auditorium, we presented a scene from a film that we love (or hate) and broke it down visually. Gyula Gazdag (Papa Gazdag) made us dig deeper and helped us understand that no frame can be a mistake. We talked about choices, lenses, angles, jumping the line, shooting wide, shooting tight and why we do it. I chose to break down the scene from 35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis) in which Lionel confronts his mortality when he finds René on the tracks. Such a spiritual film. I realized how helpful it is to break down scenes that move you—it can help you define your own language. I went to the editing suite with Cole, Waldemar and my script supervisor Margery. I burned some palo santo and asked that we create with intention. I played them the sounds of the scene I’d chosen and walked them through photographs that are spiritual references—printed photos that my film’s DP, Danyal Niazi, and I have been looking at. After dinner, we watched a restoration of Gyula’s A Hungarian Fairytale in the auditorium—what a truly magical film.
JUNE 4: Waldemar and I had a meeting in the morning, but he proposed I sleep in instead. Thanks to him, I finally feel rested again. I met with Gyula at 10 AM, and it felt more important to talk about the state of the world than where to put the camera, so we did. I met with Joan Darling over Zoom to talk about acting, but we ended up talking about creatures. I met with Cole and we scouted the billiards room where we’ll shoot the infamous Osso Bucco scene that every fellow must interpret in their own way during the lab. I noticed mirrors in the room and decided to add a monologue to make the scene as overindulgent as the space we’re shooting in. We met with the production teams to prepare for the shoot—TJ, Kalilah, Mike, Toshi, Miranda, Jena. Killer squad.
JUNE 5: Woke up and threw the white suit on again to play into the indulgence of the Osso Bucco scene. Cole and I only had four hours to shoot the scene. We got it done. We had lunch. I edited with Waldemar from 2:00 to 6:30. We finished in time. The Osso Bucco scenes screened that night at 8:00, and everyone defied expectations. A lot of pent-up horniness on the screen. A lot of cry-laughing in the audience. We all went to a magic show in the basement of the Stanley Hotel afterward, then a house party with the crews. We danced a lot.
JUNE 6: Our actors arrived. I met Alejandro, Ezekiel, and Emiliano—they were all wearing sunglasses. We immediately started poking fun at each other as all good Mexicans do. We attended the lab orientation and a welcome reception where every single actor, crew member, advisor and fellow spoke about why they’re here. It was an emotional and blissful moment of community. People laughed, people cried. I resonated with Art’s speech about growing at the labs, and Waldemar made me cry with his words too. We got ready to start working the following day.
JUNE 7: First rehearsal day. We rehearsed the scene but only ran it about five times—we decided it was best not to burn it. Alejandro, Emiliano, Ezekiel and I headed to the hot tub and talked about the world of the film while listening to a playlist I put together for it. A relaxing day bonding with the cast.
JUNE 8: I rehearsed with my actors in the Presidential Cottage, where we’ll be shooting the scene. Instead of jumping into the scene immediately, we sat in the cottage’s small living room and table-read the script from beginning to end with Mia, a wonderful local actress stepping in to play the role of Clara, the mother. We ran the blocking rehearsal, and Amy Vincent joined to give us some notes that cracked the scene open for me.
JUNE 9: We had seven hours to shoot the scene, which I thought would be plenty of time—until I remembered all the coverage we wanted. Again, I burned some palo santo to set the tone and we got into it. The scene flowed very naturally. Ed Harris came in to watch us work and quietly observed from a dark corner of the cottage. I asked him about taking care of actors during emotional scenes, like the one we were shooting. He patted me on the arm and said, “You’re doing a good job.” We finished just in time (after cutting four shots). That night they screened Thirteen. We listened to Catherine Hardwicke and editor Nancy Richardson talk about the insane process of making that film. I was overjoyed with what we’d shot, so I stayed up with Alejandro since it was his last night at the labs. I noticed that the sun was coming up—and I had to be in the editing room in three hours. It was a cold and beautiful sunrise.
JUNE 10: I overslept and rushed to my edit, but Waldemar had already started assembling a few things. He was too nice about me being late. We had to present to advisors around 3:00 PM. We got good feedback. The edit flowed but we had to rush to finish subtitles in time (auto-generated subtitles have a long way to go). Abby, our assistant editor, saved us. Another night of dancing after finishing our scenes.
JUNE 11: I tried to keep myself from looking at the news on my phone and realized how lucky we were to exist in this bubble where we could just focus on telling stories. We screened our scenes in the auditorium, and everyone’s vision came across so clearly. The next round of advisors arrived. There was a full moon that night.
JUNE 12: We rehearsed our second scene in the billiards room where I shot my Osso Bucco. My scene unfolded in a bedroom with two beds. We arrived in the billiards room to find it arranged for us. I sat in a chair and Emiliano and Ezekiel lay on the mattresses. I could tell they missed Alejandro. We started rehearsing, then shifted to listening to music. Space 1.8 by Nala Sinephro was playing on Emiliano’s phone—it’s on the playlist I made for the film. He felt the scene was a spiritual exchange and asked to rehearse with the music. Rick Famuyiwa joined us and watched as we worked. Gyula Gazdag joined as well, and before I knew it, the rehearsal became a conversation about masculinity. We talked about men being vulnerable and how to hold space for one another. We decided to go to the hot tub, but since a thunderstorm was passing we sat in the sauna and talked for a while. The evening’s screening was Nickel Boys. I apologized to Jomo Fray, one of the new advisors, for not attending but explained I’d seen it twice and needed to shot list with Cole. He said he’d be doing the same thing if he were me.
JUNE 13: We got to the Pavilion, a space beside the auditorium, where three flats had been built to create the bedroom set. The scene flowed effortlessly between Ezekiel and Emiliano. Cole made the flats look like a moonlit bedroom, and it made the world of the film come to life for me. During lunch, Jomo and I had a great chat about unearthing the visual language of a film. We finished the second half of the scene, and I got emotional thanking everyone for their work. We poured a little champagne and took a crew photo. I hugged Cole, Kalilah, Margery, John, Bri, Keren and Rick, who was there when we wrapped. We headed to dinner where we gave speeches to thank our crews.
JUNE 14: I was eager to get into the edit. We watched the selects. Waldemar and I talked for a while about story while assembling the conversation between the two characters. Advisors came in and gave a few notes, but the scene felt strong. I had lunch with Jason Reitman and learned about the power of community among filmmakers when he told me about the weekly miniature sculpture painting sessions Guillermo del Toro hosts with other directors. Waldemar and I took a little walk and wrapped up the day with a drink at the bar before dinner. We screened our scenes in the auditorium, and it was emotional to watch everyone’s work come full circle. I threw the white suit back on because we had a masquerade ball celebration afterward—the after-party was karaoke in the Pavilion.
JUNE 15: The lab felt quieter than ever as people had begun to leave. I attended my final advisor meeting in the auditorium, and we watched the scene once more. The advisors urged me to go make this movie. I got a photo of the remaining advisors together. I got to sit across from Gyula at dinner. Diffan, Lana and I talked to him about the state of the world, and even though it feels hopeless, he insisted that making our films is a form of resistance.
JUNE 16: I felt more ready to leave than ever but at the same time wished the lab could last forever. I assume this is what it feels like to wrap your first feature—or any film for that matter. We all headed home.