Documentary by Kristal Sotomayor.

Expanding Sanctuary covers the ordinary, extraordinary transformation of an immigrant worker, who yearns for her mother's presence at the dawn of her new marriage and new life. In her quest to bring her mother to the United States, what begins as a perfunctory but necessary step in order to obtain her mom's visa, changes the character's life and world-view entirely. The film documents this shift as she becomes a passionate organizer and emerges with her newfound voice, power, and agency. This journey, which started simply as a woman's wish to be close to her mom on her wedding day, gives her renewed purpose in life. Now, the goal she hopes to obtain is no longer solely for her, rather her work, in solidarity, benefits the entire community of immigrant laborers that surrounds her.

Film Festivals:
St. Louis International Film Festival
Phoenix Film Festival
Vieques Film and Human Rights Festival (FCDHV)
San Diego Latino Film Festival
Houston Latino Film Festival
The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival
Gasparilla International Film Festival
Queer Women of Color Film Festival

Kristal Sotomayor is an acclaimed director, producer, journalist and curator based in Philadelphia. They have been distinguished as a 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader Honoree and received the prestigious Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellowship. Kristal’s short documentary “Expanding Sanctuary” premiered at the 2023 St. Louis International Film Festival. Their upcoming short documentary “Don’t Cry For Me All You Drag Queens” is supported by Outfest and TRAVERSE32. They are in-development on a number of directorial projects through their production company Sotomayor Productions: the animated short film “Labyrinth of Flowers,” short music documentary the “Untitled Las Cafeteras Documentary,” and the feature documentaries "Untitled PARS Documentary" and "Untitled Rural High School Documentary." They are producing the feature documentaries “Untitled Celina Project” directed by Ruolin Luyo and “Untitled Immigrant Mothers Documentary” directed by Gabriela Watson-Burket. Kristal’s work has been supported by the Outfest Creative Hope Fellowship, If/Then North Shorts Residency, MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellowship, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab, and NeXtDoc Fellowship. They have curated acclaimed programming across the country at True/False Film Fest, SFFILM, Frameline, Philadelphia Latino Film Festival and the PBS documentary film series POV|American Documentary. They are the Editor-in-Chief of the cinéSPEAK Journal and serve as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.