Oaxacalifornia: The Return (2021)

84min   |   Mexico city   |  Spanish Directed by: Trisha Ziff

The Mejias’ crossed the border undocumented over forty years ago. I met them during their summer vacation in Oaxaca, returning to their pueblo with their three children as newly documented U.S citizens in 1993. A year later we made a 55 minute documentary for television. A portrait of a family; Mexican parents, American born children. We filmed in Fresno California, and Jaltapec Oaxaca, that suffered from lack of water and extreme erosion; a place, without hope, those who could, left, those too old or young stayed behind. A familiar narrative in pueblos across Mexico. The Mejia’s settled in California’s central valley, where the problems of water followed.