Oaxacalifornia: The Return (Oaxacalifornia: El Regreso)

Directed by: Trisha Ziff. Produced by: Andrew Houchens, Trisha Ziff.

In 1994 we met the Mejía family as they navigated their new reality as recently arrived immigrants to the United States. This film finds us in the present, and introduces us to the third generation of Mejías, now second-generation American teenagers, as they navigate what it means to be both Mexican and American in this country.

Twenty-five years ago, English-born Mexican director Trisha Ziff produced her first documentary about the Mejía family – originally from Mexico and living in the United States – as they traveled to Mexico with their American children. Picking up where the 1994 film left off, we meet the new generation of Mejías as they make the trip once again. What remains the same, did their dreams come true? Shot on both sides of the border, Oaxacalifornia: The Return explores notions of family and home, and how fast identity and cultural alliances can shift in a single generation.