Rocío Mesa is a Spanish independent film director, producer and screenwriter born in Las Gabias. She studied at the Faculty of Communication of the University of Seville and later moved to the United States with a scholarship from the Junta de Andalucía, completing a master in documentary directing at the New York Film Academy. After settling in Los Angeles she worked in editing as well as in production and screenwriting on projects developed in both the United States and Spain.
She founded the production company My Deer Films through which she produced films such as Next, Un viento roza tu puerta, Los espantos and Mabh Jhiwo or Alma anciana which premiered in the Forum section of the seventy first edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Since 2015 she has directed LA OLA Independent Films from Spain, an organisation dedicated to promoting Spanish avant garde cinema with annual showcases in Los Angeles, New York and Mexico City. As a film programmer she has collaborated with the Los Angeles Film Festival and several independent cinemas.
She directed her first fiction feature Secaderos in the villages of the Vega of Granada where she grew up. The film premiered in the New Directors section of the seventieth edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival where she received the Dunia Ayaso Award for emerging directors. Secaderos went on to receive multiple recognitions including the Audience Award at the South By Southwest Festival and numerous nominations at the Goya Awards as well as awards at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Gijón and the Festival Nuevo Cine Andaluz de Casares. She also received the Días de Cine El futuro es mujer Award and the Carmen Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Original Music. Mesa continues to combine filmmaking with programming, teaching and the promotion of film creation in Andalucía.
