“Pancho: Un Boricua en Oregon” is the story of Francisco López, a dedicated family man living in Oregon for close to 25 years. Francisco (commonly referred to as Pancho) was born and raised in the Caribbean, on the island of Puerto Rico. The film seeks to draw attention to a different yet equally important aspect of immigration in the U.S.: Puerto Rican identity and perspective. What drove Pancho to move all the way to Oregon is a story of love, learning, and family. This is not a story of peril and injustice, but merely a look into what crosses the mind of the individual Puerto Rican when confronted with the duality of their identity, and what it gives and takes.
“Pancho: Un Boricua en Oregon” is the story of Francisco López, a dedicated family man living in Oregon for close to 25 years. Francisco (commonly referred to as Pancho) was born and raised in the Caribbean, on the island of Puerto Rico. The film seeks to draw attention to a different yet equally important aspect of immigration in the U.S.: Puerto Rican identity and perspective. What drove Pancho to move all the way to Oregon is a story of love, learning, and family. This is not a story of peril and injustice, but merely a look into what crosses the mind of the individual Puerto Rican when confronted with the duality of their identity, and what it gives and takes.
Jill Torres is the subject of this Latino Roots project. She is a kindergarten teacher, MEChA leader, Spanish radio show host, and activist in Eugene's Latino community. Her life has been a question of identity, as her mother is a mix of white European ancestry while her father has a mixed Croatian and Mexican background. In high school, her teacher Armando Morales inspired her to join MEChA and be proud of her Chicana identity. Since then, a dialogue has opened between her and her father, allowing her to dig deeper into her family's history and learn more about what it means to be Latino.