For director Ulises Cordova, “Tito Ritmo” is loosely tied to his own relationship with his grandfather and his mother. But he doesn’t want to define exactly what it means. Instead, he wants each viewer to find something of their own in it.
“Tito Ritmo” follows a zoot suit-wearing pachuco in the 1940s — long coat, baggy pants — entering a dance competition with a car on the line. The 14-minute short weaves that story together with a second timeline, following his grandson decades later, in 2009.
The grandson has a dream of his own: dance school.
To get there, he plans to sell the very car his grandfather once won.
“It's about legacy, trying to feel like you're living up to those who left things behind for you,” Cordova said. “The guilt comes from selling the car because his grandfather won it, to fund his dream.”
That tension, between honoring the past and chasing something new, is what drives the film. The fact that both generations are connected through dance brings the story full circle.
Cordova’s connection to the story is more emotional than literal.
Originally from El Paso, he recently returned after spending time in Las Cruces and is nearing graduation from the film program at New Mexico State University. His path to filmmaking, though, wasn’t linear.
“I dropped out for a bit, during the COVID period, and I started trying to do my own projects in that time,” Cordova said. “I bought a camera with the COVID money, and I taught myself to use it. I started working on other sets with other people. It just grew from there and I eventually went back to school.”
After qualifying for a pair of grants, Cordova began work on the independent film. Along the way, he found himself reflecting on the differences between his own experience and his grandfather’s.
“I wanted to go into film. I'm very privileged where I was able to live with my parents and go to school, and it's not super expensive for me,” he said. “My grandfather, on the other hand, had to drop out of elementary school to start helping the family, and he's just got this crazy, tragic backstory that I think a lot of the silent generation people do. I feel like I'm squandering it compared to what he went through.”
That internal tension found its way into the film — and, in some ways, helped resolve it.
“It definitely felt therapeutic making it for sure,” Cordova said. “Seeing the amount of support that it's gotten, I think, has also alleviated some of it. It’s, I think, a little validating, maybe.”
The project itself became something of a community effort.
Cordova co-wrote “Tito Ritmo” with his friend Aldo Morales and co-produced it with fellow student Diego Rodarte. The cast and crew — 70 to 80 people in total — were made up largely of friends and collaborators who volunteered their time.
“It was a collection of all the people that I've just met across the years,” Cordova said. “It was a very, very big community thing. I was so touched to have so many people on it that were down to do it, because everybody was there because they wanted to be there.”
In the end, though, Cordova is less interested in explaining the film than in letting it be experienced.
“I'm not very good at talking about the message of movies,” he said. “I think that's why I make movies, because it's visual, it's an experience, and I want it to speak for itself. It means what it means and that's what I love about film.”
And maybe that’s the point.
Like the car at the center of the story — passed down, reinterpreted, and ultimately let go — “Tito Ritmo” isn’t about holding onto one meaning.
It’s about what each person carries forward.
"Tito Ritmo" airs Friday, April 10 as one of the Local Shorts at the Las Cruces International Film Festival.
