This was not the way her journey was supposed to go.
Esmeralda Luz Lopez had it all planned, this trip north across the border to Arizona, where she stood a better chance of becoming her best.
Climbing into the trunk of the coyote's car was kind of scary, but the dark ride wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
Then the car breaks down in the desert and the coyote abandons her, too cruel to even pop the trunk. Esmeralda escapes, only to face a long walk that will not end well.
Life was never easy for the title character in "Esmeralda del Desierto," a short film from first-time writer and director Oscar Jimenez. Esmeralda was born male and until recently passed for a woman in the border town where she worked hard to support herself.
But her secret was exposed by a priest - thanks a lot, Padre - and so she's forced to head north sooner rather than later.
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"Go safely, my son," says her blind grandfather, not knowing that his "hijo" has already saved money to pay for "a doctor who will help me with my body," as she puts it.
And now here she is stuck in the desert, not even sure which way to go. Pulling a bag designed for airports through the dirt and over the rocks, Esmeralda's pumps are first things to fall apart. She digs out some flip-flops and fortifies them with strips of denim torn from a pair of jeans.
"I made the movie as a response to what's happening in our backyard," said Jimenez, 34, a Tucsonan who was born and raised in Ajo.
"I kept hearing about all these migrants who die in the desert, but I think you can get numbed by the numbers," he said. "I wanted to put a face on them."
As played by Daniela Olea, it's a strong, smart and haunting face.
Jimenez said he found his lead actress by accident during lunch at Los Portales, a South Sixth Avenue restaurant.
"She was our waitress," he said. "I was too embarrassed to say anything the first time, but we went back. I asked her if she'd be interested in modeling and maybe acting in a movie, and her eyes her eyes widened."
The movie, which took about a year to make, is an impressive debut on many counts.
The photography captures the harsh, unforgiving beauty of the Sonoran Desert, but the camerawork also conveys the increasing disorientation of the doomed aspiring fashion designer whose sketches come alive in the closing sequence.
Jimenez designed the costumes for "Esmeralda," which pays homage to "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," the 1994 Australian charmer about drag queens on a less deadly journey in the outback.
Jimenez, who works at Wingspan, Tucson's gay and lesbian community center, said he wants to keep making movies.
"I'm interested in exploring stories about artists and writing stories that celebrate creativity, determination and those people who transform themselves into their ideal person."
He'll participate in a panel discussion following a screening at the Loft Cinema on Wednesday.
Admission is $5, and the movie starts at 7:30 p.m.
A reminder that the 2010 Tucson International Jewish Film Festival continues tonight through Sunday at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
Check out the schedule of remaining films at tucsonjcc.org.
Contact M. Scot Skinner at 573-4119 or skinner@azstarnet.com
