Rocío Mesa is an Andalusian filmmaker and director of Secaderos, a feature film that had its world premiere in the New Directors section of the 2022 San Sebastián Film Festival, where it won the Dunia Ayaso Award; it was screened internationally at SXSW (Austin, Texas), where it won the Visions Audience Award; and has been shown at festivals such as IndieLisboa, Thessaloniki and Reykjavik, amongst many others. Her first feature film, the creative documentary Orensanz (2013), premiered at the Seville European Film Festival and was selected for international festivals such as BAFICI. Her practice encompasses analogue experimental film, with works exhibited in museums, galleries and specialist festivals, such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, or Punto de Vista 2026, where she presented the shortfilm OAO.

In film production, she is a co-founder of NAINO and has led various projects, such as Álvaro Gurrea’s feature film Mbah Jhiwo / Alma Anciana (2021), which premiered at the Berlinale Forum, and Elena Duque’s Portales, set to premiere at the Berlinale Forum Expanded in 2025. She has served as director of LA OLA – Independent Films from Spain, an organisation dedicated to promoting contemporary Spanish independent cinema in North America in collaboration with institutions such as The American Cinematheque and The Anthology Film Archives. She has worked as a programmer for festivals such as the LA Film Festival and for film initiatives such as Art House Theatre Day in the US. She currently combines the development of new feature films with teaching and script consultancy.