Crystal City
- Project Type: Independent Short
- Pay Status: Paid
- Location: Austin, TX
- Start Date: Saturday, May 9, 2026
- Wrap Date: Sunday, May 10, 2026
- Producer(s): Bennet Elliot
- Director: Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn
- Writer(s): Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn
- Casting Director: Sam Franco Casting
Logline:
In 1969, a Chicana cheerleader is barred from her high school team due to a racist quota in a segregated South Texas town, sparking a student walkout that launches a youth-powered Chicano Civil Rights Movement in Texas.
Led by teenagers, the movement transforms a sleepy migrant farmworker community into a dynamic presence on the national stage, winning sweeping reforms and setting the stage for La Raza Unida — a local grassroots push that grew into a political force across the Southwest.
Tentative Shoot Dates:
May 9-10th in Austin, Texas
Alternative dates May 16-17th
Directors Bio:
Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn are Mexican-American filmmakers based in Los Angeles. GOING VARSITY IN MARIACHI, their debut feature-length film as co-directors, was given the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition, screened at 30+ film festivals, and launched on Netflix. They are Film Independent Screenwriting Fellows with their first scripted project TEEN AGE RIOT.
Character Descriptions:
Diana Palacios, 18, Mexican-American, Bilingual
Quiet and self-assured, Diana carries a steady confidence. But she’s also the last person anyone would expect to spark a movement. Diana helps launch the student walkout and to this day, still feels surprised she was the one who did.
Severita Lara, 18, Mexican-American, Bilingual
Charismatic, outspoken, and full of life, Severita is a natural connector who brings energy, humor, and urgency to everything she does. As the movement grows, she becomes its emotional core and de facto leader, channeling her passion into rallying others and turning momentum into action.
Submit resumes to:
samfrancocasting@gmail.com
As with any workplace, the film and television industries can present a wide range of potential occupational health and safety hazards to workers. The Texas Film Commission expects all productions, regardless of budget to employ best practices such as establishing a workplace harassment prevention policy as well as maintaining overall industry safety standards in order to encourage and accomplish safety on set. Please visit the Safety On Set page for additional industry safety resources as well as information about employee rights and laws in Texas.
Project posted April 2, 2026