Meet Mauricio

We were lucky to catch up with Mauricio recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mauricio, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I’ve always had a strong desire to tell stories. That is why I started acting at the age of six. Throughout the years I discovered what kind of stories I wanted to tell.

I believe that as artists it is our responsibility to use our voices to create consciousness and deliver an impactful message that will affect our audiences in a positive way. You never know who might be in the audience and how the stories you present might impact them.

I truly believe that is my purpose, to bring a message through the stories I tell, to inspire others.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

During the pandemic I founded mcs.films my own filmmaking production. I started out small, making home videos with my camera, I produced them and edited them myself and would post them on social media. I’ve kept working on this for five years now and I’m happy to say that mcs.films became a reality, it went from being a passion project to becoming a filmmaking production house. I recently wrapped two film projects, RISE UP which was shot in New York City and was produced in collaboration with the New York Film Academy and Ascensión Salazar which was shot in Mexico and produced in collaboration with ACiD film.

Most recently I had the honor to be a part of the cast in the shortfilm Perdidos by Mexican director Pablo Mejia. This film dealt with finding your identity and accepting who you are and where you come from. The film recently won a Best Narrative Short mention at the Atlanta Film Festival and is set to continue its festival run.

These are steps in the right direction, my goal is to provide a platform for the stories that need to be told and bring them to life in a meaningful and respectful way.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I came to this country at a young age to pursue my dreams. The journey hasn’t been easy, as an immigrant I’ve had to deal with rejection and being stereotyped, many times I’ve been told that I don’t look Mexican, that I should loose the accent, try to sound American.
But I believe that our roots and origins make us stronger, specially while being away from home and our family, we have to remember who we are and stand strong and proud of our culture.

We have to work harder than anyone to prove ourselves, to show that we are capable. Resilience has been key for me, because in this industry we’ll be met with rejection many times, it is hard to take no for an answer but if we keep going, learning from our mistakes and growing from them we will achieve our goals.

The main lesson I’ve learned is that we never stop learning. There is always something new to discover, there will always be another perspective and we have to stay open to them. The more we know the better we get at what we do, specially in this industry we have to be receptive of other people’s ideas and opinions, we all come from different places and cultures, but if we find connection through art then we can continue to create together.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I am currently in the process of obtaining my O1 visa. This process requires me to put together a portfolio of everything that I’ve done during my time in this country and prove that I am worthy of staying here.

Thankfully I am not alone in this process. I have the support of many wonderful people and friends that I’ve had the privilege of working with. I’ve found a lot of support in my community, it fills my heart to see how we come together to help each other.

Ray Virta has been a great mentor and friend during this process, he is the voice of reason for me, his guidance and wisdom have always inspired me and led me to be a better artist.

I’ll also be forever grateful to my parents who have supported me every step of the way, ever since I decided to move here chasing my dreams, they’ve helped me turn that dream into a reality.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Casey Chen

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