“Although the USCIS pencil pusher appears to take little interest in actually getting to know Maria Luisa and Jorge, it becomes a privilege to come to understand them intimately in the 13 minutes you spend with them in “I Have No Tears and I Must Cry,” in no small part thanks to Herrera and Oteo’s lived-in performances and Puente and crew’s rich evocation of the strange surroundings they find themselves in, making the Office for Citizenship feel entirely walled off from reality as cinematographer Oscar Ignacio Jimenez employs a tight square frame to put the couple in a bind. On the eve of the film’s premiere at Sundance, only a few miles from where the director studied under Robert Machoian at BYU and came to work on his crew on such films as “The Integrity of Joseph Chambers,” Puente spoke about how he could bring the experience that he and his own wife had to the screen so vividly and the brilliant fusion of celluloid and digital that refreshes the eyes for this arresting short.”

Read the full interview here.