WASHINGTON, DC (January 16, 2019) – Darío Guerrero is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient from Mexico who self-deported in 2014 to seek alternative cancer treatment for his
dying mother, Rocío . His plight to re-enter the US after she died received national attention, until he was finally allowed back in to resume his studies at Harvard University. Darío and his family filmed their life
experience as it occurred and created the film ROCÍO , which began touring the country at colleges and community centers this past summer.
ROCÍO is scheduled to make her first appearance in DC on Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at 7:00PM to launch the Mexican Cultural Institute's 2019 film series. This film screening will also comprise part of the
Los Angeles-based California-Mexico Center’s week-long campaign to restore Advance Parole for DACA recipients ,* as it shows how denial from the Department of Homeland Security to leave and reenter the country for a humanitarian emergency can tear apart a young person’s life.
When asked how he decided to combine old home videotapes with his own footage, Darío says, “After my mom died, I had all this footage of her in her final days, and I started looking through our tapes
finally for the first time in like, ten years. And I saw in there that my family’s been telling this story already since the time I was born. I’m only adding to it.”
Please RSVP through https://goo.gl/7vdURX | Seating is limited.
About ROCÍO
Woven from footage collected over a quarter of a century, ROCÍO is the story of a mother’s love and the American Dream. When doting mother of three Rocío is suddenly diagnosed with terminal kidney
cancer, her son Darío takes a leave of absence from Harvard College to come home and take care of her. Their battle against the disease leads them into the world of alternative medicine, where they find hope
shimmering at a clinic across the border. The catch: pursuing this last chance at survival might mean giving up everything they’ve ever worked for.
About the Director
Darío Guerrero (A.B. Harvard College ’16) is an undocumented Mexican documentarian based in Los Angeles. He wrote an OpEd in the Washington Post titled “I told Harvard I was an undocumented
immigrant. They gave me a full scholarship,” in 2014, and has since used his platform to enact social change. He is now working on a film about the Central American caravan in Tijuana.
* Advance parole was a provision of the original DACA which allowed recipients to leave and reenter the country for education, employment, or in the event of a humanitarian emergency. However, since DACA was rescinded by the President and then restored by the courts, DHS has been denying all applications for advance parole.
