United States, Mexico, 2018
Documentary
63 min, Color
English, Spanish; English subtitles

Woven from footage collected over a quarter of a century, ROCIO is the story of a mother’s love and the American Dream. When doting mother of three Rocio is suddenly diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer, her son Dario 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

Austin Premiere

Director’s Bio

Dario Guerrero was brought to this country when he was two years old and like a true bad hombre overstayed his tourist visa. His story first received national attention in September 2014 when he published an essay in the Washington Post titled “I told Harvard I was an undocumented immigrant. They gave me a full scholarship.”

Following up on this story, a Telemundo news crew reached out to Dario and found him living in his grandmother’s home, some 3,000 miles away from school in the crime-ridden, massive slums of Nezahualcoyotl just outside Mexico City. Dario’s story again made national headlines, this time under the guise of “Harvard student took his dying mom to Mexico, now he’s not allowed to leave.” This is the subject matter of his first film. This is the story of ROCIO.

Dario lives and works in Los Angeles with his vicious dog Lola.

Credits

Producer: Gabriela Cartagena, Fernando Guerrero, Ryan Ruiz

Print Source: Livia Bloom Ingram, livia@icarusfilms.com