‘How We Conquered the West and Where It Took Us’, the documentary about Aragonese emigration to America

Secuenciadas

by Ana and Marisa

January 7, 2026

In black and white and with very epic music, at the beginning of the 20th century, more than a thousand men and women left their villages in Turel, such as Jabaloyas, La Puebla de Valverde or Camarena de la Sierra, towards the far American west. They crossed the Atlantic, with nothing in their pockets and in search of a better future. Flat detail of a captain rolling on the ground. Circular to black transition. Title.

‘How we conquered the west and where it took us’, led by Elsa Tercero, tells the story of these migrants who dared to travel to the unknown, without knowing the language and without more luggage than their desire to fulfill a dream. The film is from the Aragonese production company Prolight AudioVisual with Jorge De Bautista in front and part of an idea by Roberto Roldán. “This story comes to us through Roberto, who is a friend of both Jorge and my lifelong friend, and we have developed a lot of projects together. We fell in love, we wanted to do something more of our own, and that’s where we started,” director Elsa Tercero explains to Sequenciados.

[The good, the ugly, the bad and the least bad.]

 His first contact was with Raúl Ibáñez who made a thesis on the subject. “Raul was the one who presented us to the descendants, first to those of Jabaloyas. We made a meeting with Teodoro Pradas and Fermín Yagües ", thanks to Ibáñez's thesis and the investigations of Yagües began to contact the American descendants. "We started the documentary with the vision of being able to record the part of America as well." With a team of four people, the Aragonese went to make the Americas to record the testimonies of the relatives, who were delighted to participate and give their vision in the documentary.

They crossed more than 10,000 kilometers, as our protagonists years ago, and learned the stories of relatives living in Utah, Idaho and Baja California (Mexico). “It was very frantic, in a very short time. We tried to scratch everything we could and the people were wonderful,” the director recalls.

[Elsa Tercero, Jorge De Bautista and Santiago Gracia to the conquest of the best testimonies.]

To tell this film story, the team formed by Elsa, Jorge and Roberto, decided that it was best to make a fictional part. “We wanted to make a kind of hybrid between documentary and fiction, since we couldn’t make a whole fiction about the subject,” says Tercero. For the recordings they contacted a horse ranch that has been in Teruel for twenty years and took a pleasant surprise. “Just the founder of this association had a descendant within the Puebla de Valverde.” Thanks to this they suddenly added to that family that they had not signed.

For the recreations they did not have actors, they are the descendants themselves. “They are collaborations of the neighbors and protagonists of the story,” the conference emphasizes about a very special participation. “We must name because this year she turned 100 and is the daughter of an emigrant. She returned from Barcelona to live in Jabaloyas and her daughter who is taking care of her.” The centenary steals very nice shots on the screen.

[The longest-living descendants of the Turolense conquistadors]

 Most of the people who emigrated to the American West were engaged in livestock and mining. Some did well and others did not so much. “What they have in common is that all the people who left had a very long, difficult journey and in a very complicated time. Without media they came to another country where they had nothing and spoke a different language. They are things that currently happen everywhere, but a few years ago it was very different,” says Tercero.

Now this legacy is in the audiovisual ‘How we conquer the west and where it took us’ a memory of all those Aragonese who dared to embark on an uncertain journey to the American conquest. “It’s a tribute to be left in memory, because these stories are lost, forgotten. At least with this documentary it will last over time,” the director confides. The docu had a very emotional preview at the Cine Maravillas de Teruel. More than fifty relatives came from Tijuana, Mexico, to learn about their origins. After its premiere in cinemas, you can see later in Aragon TV.

The team is composed by Pilar Bellé in the script, photography of Jorge De Bautista, Santiago Gracia as camera operator, Daniel Orta and Isabel Chaverri in sound, Nerea Moreno in art direction, the makeup is Cristina Sánchez, in graphic design are Pablo Pellicer and Juan Flores, the costumes is by Arantxa Ezquerro and Laura Sanz, the music is by José María Rubio and the edition is José Manuel Fandos.

 

Cómo conquistamos el oeste y adónde nos llevó – Spanish title

How We Conquered theWest and Where It Took Us – English translated title

 

A 2025 Spanish documentary film [Prolight AudioVisual (Zaragoza)]

Producer: Jorge De Bautista

Director: Elsa Tercero

Story: Roberto Roldán, Raúl Ibáñez

Screenplay: Pilar Bellé

Cinematography: Jorge De Bautista, Santiago Gracia

Music: José María Rubio

Running time: 72 minutes

 

Story: At the beginning of the twentieth century, more than a thousand men and women left behind the lonely lands of Teruel. They embarked into the unknown. They crossed the ocean in search of a future that overflowed their dreams and entered the American Wild West, which also held challenges.

 

Cast:

Holly George, Linda Lopez, Teodoro Pradas, Ismael Yagües Ames, Mona Yagües,  Fermín Yagües, Águeda, Jabaloyas. Maruja Izquierdo Izquierdo, John Urresti, Raul Ibanez

 

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBbWifVVqBk