By Cris Alarcon, InEDC Writer. Sept 22, 2026)
PLACERVILLE, Calif. — A Placerville childhood has become the unlikely starting point for a film carrying El Dorado County’s historic identity onto screens far beyond the Sierra foothills.
David Aguilar, a Placerville native and Los Angeles-based television writer and filmmaker, recently joined CBS Sacramento’s Primetime Sacramento to discuss his short film “Hangtown,” a coming-of-age story rooted in his experiences growing up Latino in the El Dorado County community.
The 22-minute film, released in 2025, centers on a 12-year-old Latino boy who does not speak Spanish and develops a father-son-like relationship with a Mexican immigrant fleeing armed vigilantes. The story combines adventure with themes of identity, immigration, belonging and courage.
For Aguilar, however, the story begins much closer to home.
A Placerville childhood becomes the story
Aguilar has described himself as a Los Angeles-born Chicano who spent his formative years in Placerville. According to his filmmaker biography, the town’s history helped spark the concept for “Hangtown.”
In an earlier interview with KCRA, Aguilar said the film is set in 1988, when he was one of only a handful of Latino children in Placerville.
“This film was about the psychological truth of that experience,” Aguilar said.
That distinction is important to understanding the film. “Hangtown” is not presented simply as a historical account of Placerville. Instead, Aguilar uses the town and its landscape as the backdrop for a child’s developing understanding of identity and belonging.
The film was also shot in Northern California, with Aguilar saying the area’s landscape and history were important influences on the story.
From Placerville to Hollywood
Aguilar has since built a career in television and film. His writing credits include CBS dramas “Matlock” and “S.W.A.T.”, as well as the miniseries “FDR.” He studied film and television production at UCLA.
“Hangtown” represents a more personal project.
The film premiered at the Sacramento International Film Festival in December 2025 and received the Visionary Spirit Award and Outstanding Cine Latino Long Form honors. Aguilar subsequently received a Best Director award for the short at the Pasadena International Film Festival in 2026.
During the Sacramento premiere, Aguilar said returning to the region where the story originated carried particular significance.
“It means the world because this is the origin of the film,” he told KCRA.
A story about identity and belonging
The film’s title carries an obvious connection to Placerville, whose historic nickname is Hangtown.
For Aguilar, that history provides more than atmosphere. It becomes part of the psychological landscape experienced by the film’s young protagonist.
The story follows Sammy, a 12-year-old boy searching for a father figure while confronting circumstances far beyond his age. His relationship with a Mexican immigrant forces him to confront questions of identity and the complicated connections between Mexican and Mexican American communities.
Aguilar told KCRA that he wanted Latino and Chicano audiences in particular to recognize the importance of connections across borders and communities.
Ultimately, he described the film’s message as “unity within our community.”
That message gives the Placerville setting a broader significance. The film uses one child’s experience to examine how a young person can simultaneously feel connected to a place and uncertain about whether he belongs there.
The next chapter could bring ‘Hangtown’ home
Aguilar is now developing “Hangtown” as a feature-length film.
The short film’s festival run has continued following its Sacramento premiere, with screenings and selections bringing the story to audiences outside the region. Aguilar has said the ultimate goal is to return to Placerville and film a larger production that would allow him to explore the characters and story in greater depth.
That prospect could eventually bring a Hollywood production back to the El Dorado County community that inspired it.
For Aguilar, the film’s most important lesson may be less about Hollywood than about finding the courage to tell a personal story.
His advice to young filmmakers is straightforward: Start with what is personal.
Aguilar told KCRA that material that makes an artist nervous or embarrassed to share can often be the best place to begin because it comes from the artist’s own experience and voice.
For a filmmaker who grew up in Placerville, that personal voice has now turned the streets, history and memories of an El Dorado County childhood into the foundation for “Hangtown” — a story that began locally and is now finding an audience far beyond the county line.
Sources: CBS Sacramento, KCRA, Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival and David Aguilar’s FilmFreeway filmmaker profile.
