Rocio Mesa is a Spanish filmmaker based in California. She combines writing and directing with production and programming. Her latest feature film as a writer/director, Tobacco Barns (Secaderos) (2022), World Premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival winning the Dunia Ayaso Award, and Internationally premiered at SXSW, taking home the Visions Audience Award. Mesa’s feature debut as a writer/director, the hybrid documentary Orensanz (2013), premiered at Seville European Film Festival and was selected in international festivals like BAFICI. Mesa practices analog experimental filmmaking and her works have been seen at exhibitions and museums like the National Gallery of Art in Washington or festivals like Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris, Cámara Lúcida, L’Alternativa and many more.

Mesa has produced titles such as Mbah Jhiwo / Ancient Soul (2021) by Álvaro Gurrea, premiered at Berlinale. She is the director of "LA OLA - Independent Films from Spain", an organization that showcases and promotes avant-garde Spanish cinema in North America in collaboration with remarcable institutions like the American Cinematheque, The Anthology Film Archives or Cineteca Nacional Mexico. Rocio Mesa has worked as a programmer for festivals such as the LA Film Festival and international events like Art House Theater Day in the USA. Mesa was named by Variety as one of the top 10 "Spanish Women Rising in the Film Business".