The double life of ernesto gomez gomez
He was 10 years old when they told him. His loving Mexican mother and father revealed:
He was adopted.
His name was not Ernesto.
His birth mother had sent him away for his own safety when he was an infant, to be raised in hiding, under another name, in another country.
His birth mother was in the USA, in prison – a Puerto Rican patriot, a political prisoner, serving 55 years. She had secretly sent a message. She wanted to meet her son.
Would he come?
one boy, two identities, three nationalities.
… and so began the journey which became this documentary. A story of politics and parents, of colonialism and childhood. A story of one boy caught betweeen Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the United States.
A documentary film with an amazing real-world effect (and real-world happy ending) ….
This documentary film helped win Presidential Clemency and freedom for Ernesto’s mother after 19 years in prison
…and freedom for Ernesto to be himself – whoever that might be.
Directors Guild of America,
nomination
Outstanding Acheievement in Documentary Directing
An award winning PBS documentary about: Adoption. Immigration. Incarceration. Political prisoners. Colonialism. Puerto Rico. Mexico. The United States.
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- WINNER of eleven BEST DOCUMENTARY awards at film festivals
- Nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Documentary Directing
- Broadcast on PBS as opening night of the prestigious non-fiction showcase series, POV.
- But most importantly, led to an official Act of Presidential Clemency and freed Ernesto’s mother Dylcia Pagan and 11 other Puerto Rican political prisoners.
Reviews & Articles
“The Double Life of Ernesto Gómez Gómez is an extraordinary film which captures the anguish of a family torn apart by the power of the state, and puts a powerful political story into human terms. It is heartrending, but also exhilarating as it portrays the courage of a mother and her son facing, in their own ways, an ordeal which every family dreads, while holding on to their dream of justice.”
– Howard Zinn, author of The People’s History of the United States
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“… a happy boy growing up in Chihuahua, Mexico, but all that ended the day his parents took him aside and told him his whole life had been a lie … the film follows his emotional quest in search of both his true identity and the mother who had abandoned him…a troubled journey of self-discovery … a striking self-portrait that not only explores the costs of profound political idealism in one family but that also touches on such issues as immigration, adoption, colonialism and love.”
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“LO MAS INTERESANTE … Este documental representa la relación entre el cinematógrafo y el tema y como esa relación puede sangrar y convertirse en una verdadera amistad.”
El Tecolote Review, in English and Spanish
“Film makers Update”, 9 years after broadcast:
“On July 27, 1999, our film, The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez, premiered on POV. Let it never be said that TV accomplishes nothing. Less than two months later, Ernesto’s mother, Dylcia Pagan, received executive clemency from President Clinton and she walked out of the U.S. federal prison, a free woman, after having been incarcerated for 19 years of her 55-year sentence…” more
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“This true story of a Puerto Rican boy, born Guillermo Morales but raised in Mexico under another name, raises issues of identity, immigration and cultural conflict as well as concerns about the justice system.” from “S.F. Couple’s Documentary Uncovers a Gripping Story of social injustice. “
“The experience was unforgettable, seared into my memory, and it remains to this day a high point of my life and of my lifelong commitment to activism and media. We had begun this work with hope, but without a real expectation of victory. We had begun as a matter of principle, to fight the good fight: for the rights of political prisoners, for the rights of prisoners victimized by injustice in general, for the principle of self-determination of peoples, causes so noble and worthwhile that we never believed with certainty that we would achieve a victory.
That it came to be makes it all the more worthwhile to look at the reasons why… from “Case Study: Changing the World, One Documentary at at Time”
Directors Guild of America nomination announcement
“Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries”
Cover story, International Documentary Magazine – a short description of the film and it’s making
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“Double Dipping” Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg Have Landed PBS and Network Slots this Summer” , by Sura Wood. From Release Print Magazine. June 1999. (Click article title for PDF)
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