Un Día Normal (A Normal Day)

For many years, I wanted to make a film that spoke about the reality that immigrant families with mixed immigration status face in the U.S. Especially given the tumultuous political climate of the last few years, stories like my family’s, like the Monzón family’s, are often go unheard among all of the political bickering and misinformation.

As it did for many other recipients, the DACA program had a major change in my life since it allowed me to work and to study for the career of my dreams. Since I have the opportunity to work in film, I consider it my responsibility to use the medium to help reach out to and inform others.

Un Día Normal was born as a way to not only look at the family dynamics in an immigrant family, but also show the impact that decisions made at the government level have on the family's lives. Living with DACA at times feels like an ongoing state of limbo - you are allowed to work, but only temporarily, and not knowing if you will be allowed to renew. You are reminded frequently that it is a very fragile status, and that it can be taken away at the slightest slip-up. And the ongoing teeter-totter of agencies fighting over the program’s legality in court makes it very difficult to really plan ahead for the future. A large part of your future depends on the actions and decisions of others, and you don’t have control over what decisions will be made.

Un Día Normal is my attempt to inform the people that can have a say in the decisions - the policymakers and voters - of the impact that their choices can have on the lives of immigrant families, and to show just how ever-present and potentially devastating the threat of deportation is to families who’ve left everything behind in the search of a better life.