Del Rio native Lorenzo Leyva directs film inspired by hometown roots

Lorenzo Leyva, a Del Rio native who spent his first 22 years in the city, is turning that hometown experience into a short film now moving through production in Chicago. His project, I Just Need a Moment to Breathe, centers on Rosalba Valdez, a musician who gets a last-minute call to perform at a festival and has 72 hours to pull it off while dealing with work, gigs, family drama and a car breakdown.

The film grew out of Leyva’s own path out of Val Verde County. He moved to Chicago in 2015 to study film at Columbia College Chicago, but he said much of his drive still came from Del Rio, especially from an uncle who taught art there. That connection gives the project a local significance beyond its Chicago setting: Leyva is carrying a Del Rio sensibility into a larger film market without cutting himself off from the community that shaped him.

Leyva said the film entered pre-production in May and is expected to finish post-production before the end of the year. That timeline makes the project more than a concept piece. It is a working step in a career that already includes credits as an intern, production assistant, videographer, editor, director and producer.

The crowdfunding campaign for I Just Need a Moment to Breathe also showed tangible support. Seed&Spark listed a $25,000 production goal, and the project finished at 103% funded with $25,835 raised, backed by 136 supporters and followed by 178 people. The campaign framed the film as a community-driven effort made with real artists, a pitch that fits Leyva’s larger approach to storytelling and production.

Leyva also runs Chicago Valley, a Chicago-based full-production company where he serves as co-founder, producer and director alongside Marius Rudzevicius, who holds the same titles. The company says it has spent more than 10 years serving Chicago businesses and films weddings, conventions and other events, giving Leyva a commercial base as he builds narrative work.

For Val Verde County, Leyva’s next move matters because it shows one route for local artists trying to break into film without losing their identity. His work points to a practical model: learn the craft, build a production network, raise money from supporters and keep the stories tied to the people and places that formed you.