"Trokas Duras"

7 March 2025

17 mins 09s

Labour days.

There are shades of Guinness 'Sapeurs' to this short film directed by Jazmin Garcia. That commercial was set in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo—Garcia's film takes place in Los Angeles, where Latin American jornaleros [day labourers] hustle day in, day out, from dawn to dusk. They work hard, but, like the Sapeurs, they also dream hard.

The likes of Benjamin Moreno, Elmer Mayorga, and Tricia Sarmiento drive pickup trucks that refuse to die, carpool as they put the world to rights, and 'serenade' miserly customers ("That fool won't pay!"). There's more to life than money, though—as Moreno puts it: "If you don't respect yourself, how is anyone else supposed to respect you?"

To fortify themselves, the cast dip into a heightened reality, where manual labourers dress like they own the City of Angels and housekeepers become one with the flowers in a field. They are more than the gigs, the blisters, and the cash in hand, with Garcia, a Mexican-Guatemalan-American, keen to celebrate grace and generosity as well as graft.

USA

Short Film