Victor M. Rocha is a current fourth-year student at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television and intern at Sony Pictures Television Comedy Development. He expects to graduate UCLA this June with a concentration in screenwriting and narrative directing. Born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Victor considers himself a true valley girl. However, after being stuck in Mexico for a year between the ages of two and three, his first memories are attending church with his Catholic aunts in Michoacán and watching Blue’s Clues in Spanish at his grandma’s house. As a member of the Latinx community and LGBTQ+ community, Victor has spent his time in college trying to shake his Catholic guilt and making content that is unapologetically brown and very, very gay. His major accomplishments include a Latinx, gay romantic comedy and his undergraduate senior thesis, a 13 minute short film about being out to friends but not family. With his career, Victor aims to bring accurate and diverse representation to all screens and become famous enough to befriend Ariana Grande.
Director Statement
Growing up, my dream was to be an ice cream man. All you had to do was pull up in your ice cream truck, play that banger of a song, and wait for the money to roll on in. I’m still not convinced it is a bad career choice; I have never met an ice cream man, but I’m sure they are living wonderful lives. It wasn’t until high school that I narrowed it down to more “viable” options: pre-law, psychology, or filmmaking. Years after I’d accepted my offer at UCLA’s film school, I finally realized why that choice had always felt right. I sought to become a psychologist in the hopes of understanding people and considered being a lawyer to speak on behalf of those less fortunate than me. Filmmaking allows me to do both through my art.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and as a Mexican-American son of immigrants, I feel a great responsibility to use my privilege for good. An unimaginable amount of people in my situation do not make it as far as I have. As such, I hope to use what little platform I have to elevate the voices of people like me. Those who were not accepted by their parents, those who did not get accepted to their dream schools, those who did but couldn’t afford it, those who didn’t have the luxury of paying their bills while having an unpaid internship.
I hope you enjoy my short film and know that it is always my goal to help people expand their compassion, empathy, and world view. I’ve seen shows about thugs, movies about gay men who die or can’t find love, but I’ve never seen someone who isn’t sexually promiscuous, or depressed, or just low-income and happy. This film is for everyone who is tired of that and wants something new. This is the gay early 2000’s movie we were never given.
LGBTQ+ Toronto Film Festival 
