I CROSSED THE DESERT
WITH A GUN IN HAND
by Laurence Garret
Documentary | 78 min | 2026 | France
At 18, Daniel Torres, an undocumented Mexican American, enlisted in the US Marine Corps. A veteran of the war in Iraq, he was later arrested and deported to Mexico.
After winning a lawsuit against the US administration, he is now trying to help those who, like him, were banished from a country for which they put their lives on the line.
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Credits
Directed by Laurence Garret
Written by Laurence Garret and Juan-Manuel Sepúlveda
Image: Laurence Garret
Sound: Lucas Denis
Editing: Jeanne Oberson
Music: Niki Demiller
In co-production with Acqua Alta and LesterFilm
Workshops and labs
2023 : Project selected at Co-production Forum IndieLisboa (Lisbonne)
2022 : Project selected at Encuentro de Coproducción, programa de industria del 37° Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (Mexico)
2021 : Project selected at New Visions Forum : Europe 2021, pitchs forum of Ji.hlava Festival (Czech Republic)
Director's note
Trained in the most powerful and destructive army in the world, Daniel Torres was later pushed aside, cast out, and labeled undesirable by a cynical system. His path reflects that of many veterans who have lost almost everything.
Daniel Torres’s war story is anti-heroic. It is a voice that questions war and the authoritarian patriarchy within institutions. He does not see himself as a victim. He speaks with defiance, opposing those who turn their mission into a symbol.
His testimony resonates with a growing number of people caught in the violence of today’s world — individuals scorned by a system that normalizes the dehumanization of human relationships.
Laurence Garret
After making JOURNEY INTO AMNESIA, a first film edited from Super 8 family archives, Laurence Garret took part in the 2008 Lussas Documentary Film Forum (FR) with LES CHEVEUX COUPES, also selected at Premiers Plans – Festival (Angers, France).
In 2012, she traveled to Mexico for the documentary essay EN NINGÚN LUGAR, DON LUIS BUÑUEL, featuring Denis Lavant and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film was aired on France 3 Corse and was included in the Images de la Culture/CNC catalogue.
In 2018, she directed POR LA LIBERTAD, a portrait of the Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, for the Cinéastes De Notre Temps collection, presented at the IFF Rotterdam and BAFICI (ARG) among others, and which aired on Ciné+.
Committed to film education since 2010, Laurence Garret leads workshops in schools for the non-profit organization Le Cinéma, cent ans de jeunesse. A member of the documentary filmmakers’ association Addoc since 2015, she also takes part in the French Observatory for Creative Freedom.
POR LA LIBERTAD
Doc, 2017, 85 min, France/Mexico
IFF Rotterdam, 2017
BAFICI, 2017
Geneva IFF, 2017
Black Canvas Contemporary FF, 2018
Broadcast : Ciné+
EN NINGÚN LUGAR, DON LUIS BUÑUEL
Exp doc, 2014, 55 min, France
Atlantida Film Fest, 2014
Different 7!/L'autre cinéma espagnol, 2014
Fonds Images de la culture/CNC
Broadcast : France 3 Corse
LES CHEVEUX COUPÉS
Exp fiction, 2008, W&B, 16 mm, 14 min, France
Jury's prize at Festival du film court de Grenoble, 2008
Premiers Plans de Angers/Section Figures Libres, 2009
International Festival of Young Directors of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 2009
Etats généraux du film documentaire of Lussas, 2008
L'OMBRE ET LA MAIN
Doc, 2017, 52 min, France
Broadcast : Histoire, TLM
LE TEMPS RETENU
Doc, 2005, 70 min, France
Broadcast : France 3 Rhône-Alpes
JOURNEY TO AMNESIA
Exp Fiction, 2003, Super8, 10 min, France
Festivals
2026 : Cinéma du réel / Compétition (France)
