Sharon Arteaga
FILM: IN TOW
SHARON ARTEAGA (she/her) is a writer/director who convinced her mom to buy her a video camera instead of a Quinceañera. A first-generation Mexican-American, from Corpus Christi, Texas, Arteaga’s work playfully navigates themes of generational, linguistic, and cultural differences between people. Her award-winning short films include the 2021 HBO Latinx Short Film Competition Winner, When You Clean a Stranger’s Home, now streaming on Max. Arteaga is a WarnerBros. Discovery 150 Artist, a Rainin Grant Fellow, and was a Gotham Market participant in 2022. She was a 2019 Tribeca Chanel Through Her Lens finalist with IN TOW and earned a Gold Signal Award while working as the Story Producer on the Austin NPR affiliate podcast Tacos of Texas. Arteaga is the Sr. Manager of Filmmaker Support at the Austin Film Society, where she gets to empower others to make their own films. She is working on a couple more shorts while she tries to crossover into feature-length work.
Director State
I grew up in mobile homes with my immigrant, single mom. They were precarious structures, but there was also a magic to living inside of them. During storms, it felt like our house could blow away at any moment, and I might wake up in the Land of Oz. The thin walls and linear layout of the home played an essential role in the closeness between my mom and my sisters – the kind of closeness that comes with great joy and great conflict.
As I got older, our financial situation led us to move often, creating an unstable environment where home could literally be lost at any moment. My teenage angst often led me to be frustrated at my mom for our circumstances. However, over the years I came to realize that she provided the best home that she could, no matter where we moved.
Inside of these homes I was able to dream and begin pursuing my journey to become a filmmaker. My mom even bought me a video camera by borrowing my aunt’s Sears credit card! Despite her obstacles as a single, immigrant woman, my mother raised my sisters and I to find magic and humor in everything, and it heavily influenced my filmmaking voice.
Although my films are based in unfortunate circumstances, they are offset by a playful tone and resilient characters. Through a hyperbolized story, accessible characters, and comedy, IN TOW will make socio-economic insecurities and parent-child conflict relatable even to those who have never experienced it.
