The idea to create a docu-fiction where a character is inserted into real-life environments to interact with unsuspecting locals came to Ribeiro after spending long periods of time in El Paso as a journalist covering immigration. Observing what happens in this \u201cquaint little town\u201d on the border, she says, is crucial to understanding global geopolitics.<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779928880_242_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
In the mockumentary \u201cValentina,\u201d Keyla Monterroso Mejia plays the titular character and interacts with real life El Pasoans.<\/p>\n
(Tattijani Ribeiro)<\/p>\n
And though the reporting coming out of there during the first Trump administration often seemed bleak, Ribeiro\u2019s memories of those days in El Paso are joyful because of its people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I would have to do some version of a hybrid in order to get the experience that I was having to come across,\u201d she said during a recent video interview. \u201cAnd as a journalist, I don\u2019t want to be in the story at all. I thought, \u2018We could do this with an actor and control certain things, but then let the best parts of El Paso be themselves.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For a scene where Valentina has an encounter with a tow truck driver, they simply called a tow yard hoping someone interesting would show up. For the psychic who does a spiritual cleanse on her, they were lucky to find one who agreed to have his face on camera. And for a sequence where a strapped-for-cash Valentina visits a blood bank for the first time, they ran into a group of Spanish-speaking people who encouraged her to not be afraid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are walking into a scene that they don\u2019t know is a scene. We\u2019re not miking them. We planted mics and hid some cameras, and a producer is like, \u2018We\u2019re shooting a documentary. If you see some cameras just ignore it.\u2019 There was no pressure on them to perform,\u201d Ribeiro explained. A climactic city council meeting is also real. They planted Monterroso Mejia and filmed her from afar in the area dedicated to the journalists.<\/p>\n
A California native, Monterroso Mejia was not familiar with El Paso, and yet getting along with the locals, mostly Latinos, felt familiar. There was no need for adjustment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like, \u2018Oh, these are my uncles, these are my cousins. I know these people,\u201d she says on the same video call. \u201cEverybody\u2019s kindness and willingness to help comes across because that\u2019s who they are. That\u2019s also what I\u2019m used to with my people and my culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ribeiro says she first became aware of Monterroso Mejia after seeing her in \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm.\u201d Her sense of humor resonated with the director. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe way that Keyla responds to things, how she thinks about a joke, her timing, her tone, all of it really gets me,\u201d she said, adding that Monterroso Mejia being a bilingual speaker made her the ideal performer for the role.<\/p>\n
Monterroso Mejia, however, didn\u2019t initially immerse herself in this singular project.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to say yes, I was really scared. Working with Tatti came pretty early on after \u2018Curb,\u2019 and I was not very sure of myself as an actress or very comfortable in this format,\u201d she said. It was the unique tone and approach that ultimately enticed her to take a chance. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Even if I\u2019m really afraid, I have to say yes. Even if I don\u2019t feel ready.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor\u2019s real-life brother, Nathan Monterroso, and father, Juan Carlos Monterroso, portrayed Valentina\u2019s sibling and parent on screen. Ribeiro leaned into their on-screen chemistry as a family unit when creating a sizzle reel to get financing for the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother was like, \u2018I love you, whatever you need.\u2019 And then my dad was like, \u2018When I was younger I took acting classes. I\u2019m a thespian,\u2019 so there was not really convincing on his part. He was pretty up for it,\u201d Monterroso Mejia said while comically rolling her eyes.<\/p>\n
The playful relationship that Monterroso Mejia and her dad display in the film reminded Ribeiro about her own bond with her Brazilian father. \u201cWherever your parents are from, if you\u2019re a first-generation kid in the United States, that is the dynamic,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ribeiro\u2019s father never spoke about the difficult moments in his life as an immigrant in a tragic manner. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t feel bad for himself, so I don\u2019t,\u201d she said, noting that she holds immense respect for her parents but has never seen immigration through a \u201clens of pity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trouble with so much immigration-focused stuff, Latino-focused stuff, is there is this lens of pity that sets the tone of the dynamic and how they approach people and how people feel they need to represent themselves,\u201d Ribeiro explained. \u201cMy dad is so funny. He is a full person. Is he a carpenter? Yes. Is he sitting at Home Depot? Yes. Is that his day-to-day life? Totally. But is he also an amazing musician who thinks he\u2019s better than everybody at what he does and is just like, \u2018I don\u2019t know why I didn\u2019t make it\u2019? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those convictions inform every exchange that Valentina has with El Pasoans. One early scene at a diner shows Valentina chatting with a group of immigrant men who have just crossed the border. It exemplifies how the film treats its subjects as complex individuals rather than engaging them with condescension.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had just talked about, \u2018Yeah girl, we just rode that f\u2014 train.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, but what about a [Brazilian butt lift]?\u2019 And then it takes shape,\u201d Monterroso Mejia said laughing. \u201cIn a traditional film, people would harp on the fact that they just came from a very dark journey and that they don\u2019t have work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what happens when you don\u2019t put a camera in someone\u2019s face and be like, \u2018how f\u2014 up was it to cross the border?\u2019\u201d Ribeiro adds. \u201cYou give them space to be normal people.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Monterroso Mejia, becoming Valentina didn\u2019t necessarily entail playing a character, but leaning on her lived experience as the child of immigrants existing in a bilingual place like Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of it was just feeling comfortable being as much of myself as I could in front of a camera, which took a little bit of an adjustment,\u201d she said. \u201cThere couldn\u2019t be this facade of trying to play a person. It was just like, \u2018You really relate to these things and these people, and you just have to let that take over.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Ribeiro believes her film only works because of the down-to-earth truthfulness and lack of judgment with which Monterroso Mejia handles herself. \u201cKeyla is the epitome of this. She\u2019s the nicest, kindest person and people are so kind in return to her. It was really beautiful. I made a much more earnest movie than I thought I could,\u201d Ribeiro said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valentina Torres isn\u2019t real, but the people who cross her path in El Paso very much are. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":826661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,34144,31126,8761,1020,8618,34024,339455,2961,2252,224,5337,6976,3546,339456,339454,9260,67381,339453],"class_list":["post-826660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-camera","tag-el-paso","tag-father","tag-film","tag-immigrant","tag-journalist","tag-keyla-monterroso-mejia","tag-la","tag-life","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-parent","tag-people","tag-real-el-pasoans","tag-ribeiro","tag-scene","tag-tone","tag-valentina"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116649426266531183","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}