Leaving Romero / Dejar Romero

Alejandro Fernández Moujan, Hernán Khourian

2024 / 77 minutes
Argentina / Argentina
Spanish with English Subtitles

There are alternatives to asylums. How is the process of “deinstitutionalization” implemented at the Melchor Romero hospice in La Plata, Argentina? Leaving Romero closely examines this experience by focusing on the lives of the patients and those driving the process—the young people united under the Movement for Deinstitutionalization in Romero (MDR). They work by establishing strong, affectionate, and committed bonds with the patients, supporting and preparing them for reintegration into society. Meanwhile, an archive is being recovered: medical records, photographs, unsent letters, and complaints from patients that were never addressed. These documents put faces and names to this 140-year history, reinforcing the urgent need to end confinement, mistreatment, and invisibility once and for all.