Killings, Disappearances, and Torture in ‘War on Drugs’

Download the full report here (PDF)

Additional Footage and Interviews here.

SYNOPSIS/
Five years after President Felipe Calderón deployed the military to confront Mexico’s violent drug cartels, Human Rights Watch measures the impact of his strategy on human rights and public security. Based on in-depth research in five states and more than 200 interviews with victims, witnesses, and government officials, this report documents grave abuses committed by security forces in counter-narcotics efforts, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. The report also examines the failure of both military and civilian prosecutors to investigate these serious crimes, and the detrimental effect of such impunity on public security efforts.

CREDITS/
Cinematography: Alba Mora
Researcher: Nik Steinberg
Editing: Jessie Graham and Madeleine Bair

LINKS/

Human Rights Watch
HRW Multimedia Release

ABOUT THE SHOW/
DINOSAUR REVOLUTION combines the talent of the world’s best dinosaur illustrators and animators with the latest fossil research and the best of Hollywood storytelling to illustrate the extraordinary life of dinosaurs. The series features never-before-seen intimate behaviors to illustrate the extraordinary life of dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Revolution is a four-part American nature documentary produced by Creative Differences.

Video: An Allosaurus mother is mad enough to bite off a head when a noisy Ornitholestes keeps disturbing her sleep.

Facts and Stories. The Dinosaur Revolution ComicCon panel looks at how the production team has strived to combine great stories with the latest, most accurate science.

The first two episodes aired on Discovery Channel on September 4, 2011. The final two episodes were scheduled to air September 11, 2011 on Discovery Channel. However, out of respect for the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a last-minute schedule change replaced them with September 11-related programing.[4] These two episodes were rescheduled to air on the channel Science on September 13, 2011.

SYNOPSIS/

DreamTown follows the triumphant yet at times tragic portrait of the struggle three young men face to realize their dream, whether individually competing for their place on Ecuador’s professional soccer team or after finding success being determined to uplift their people.

Here the dreams of a pro, a protege’ and a novice collide as these afro-Ecuadorians perform for community, national and international audiences with the hopes of bringing home more than just a medal. Their family’s survival and whole community’s hopes are riding on their shoulders.

The film is set in the impoverished backwater Afro-Ecuadorian town of El Chota Valley, a place where the primary export is Ecuador’s top soccer talent and prior to the 2002 World Cup was invisible to the rest of the world. Yet it still remains marginalized by a nation that so reveres their athletes.

In a part of Ecuador where viable economic opportunities are scarce, success in professional sports provides public recognition and a highly unlikely, but appealing exit strategy. Only 10 players per year are chosen to play professionally yet that does not deter hundreds of young boys from tracing the footsteps of Ecuador’s Afro-descendant soccer stars.

The success of these star players from El Chota Valley has had an unprecedented impact on the area, planting the seed to transform the widespread social, political and economic discrimination Afro-Ecuadorians face. This documentary sheds light on the transformative power of dreams within a forgotten Afro-Ecuadorian community.

Will these kids make it to create a new identity for themselves and their community or will a generation of young boys be lost by risking it all for a pipe dream.

MAIN CHARACTERS/

CARLOS MALDONADO, 22

Carlos dreams of pursuing soccer gold. He is trying out to be one of the four players chosen for Imbabura Sporting Club, a team a level under the professional tier. We find out that after 10 years of trying to advance this year yet again he doesn’t make the cut. Time is running out, this may be his last opportunity to give it all he’s got. His family’s home is crumbling—they don’t have the money needed for repairs. His father is deaf and cannot work; his mother desperately pressures him to quit the team and help out the family and he is about to give up. He is at difficult crossroads that could mean the end of the road for his dream and tragically like so many others, with no back-up plan in site.



ANIBAL CHALA, 14

In a backdrop of a soccer “field of dreams” you can find Anibal as one of the standout players. A talented hopeful playing in El National’s formative youth leagues, one of Ecuador’s top soccer schools with a professional team in Quito. Anibal has lofty goals of playing internationally in Chelsea or Manchester like his role model Antonio Valencia, an Afro-Ecuadorian player currently playing for Manchester United.

Since his father has fallen deathly ill, Anibal has found himself the head of a family of 9 brothers and sisters, whom he dropped out of school to help care for. He cleans, baths them, prepares meals and gives his father his medicine. While his family barely scrapes by he still manages to do whatever he can to make it to soccer practice even if he has to borrow for bus fare to get there.

His coach sees his talent and tells him to focus as much as he can on soccer in order to have a real chance at making it. Sadly, this is the reality for many young boys in El Chota, where the competition is stiff and a line of eager hopefuls wait for the opportunity to take his place.

So much for him is riding on every game, for if he makes it he can help out his family significantly. But as his father’s condition worsens leading up to game changing matches, where scouts have an eye out for the next in line to move up, how much can he gamble and sacrifice to take this chance is left to be seen.

ULISES DE LA CRUZ, 37

Ulises is an international soccer star that came from impoverished beginnings in the valley, playing without shoes to playing in the last two World Cups and now playing professionally in Ecuador, after recently moving back from a distinguished playing career in England. His and other players’ success begun to transform the stigma Afro-Ecuadorians have faced. This has also resulted in an entire community of youth single-mindedly pursuing one goal– following in their footsteps to play professional soccer. He yearns to be able to do more while he still can as he approaches the end of his soccer career.

Like many famous soccer players that made it out from El Chota, he started his own foundation, Fundecruz, donating 20% of his earnings to building a medical center, a sewage system, roads, schools, water plants, housing and a gym to serve over 200 families. Yet, Ulyses knows it will take much more to build up his community to be self-sustaining and permanently lifted out of poverty. His mission is not only to inspire kids to play soccer but also to invest in a future beyond it, based on education and taking part in helping out their community.

Ulyses, Carlos, and Anibal’s contrasting accounts embody the spirit of soccer as a vehicle to transcend racial, economic and social barriers that previously have divided a country and neglected this region. By telling the stories of the country’s most cherished possession—their athletes, the goal of this film is to shed light on these forgotten communities, and the dualities that exists when “DreamTown” is accessible only for the very few.

CREDITS/

Producer / Director: Betty Bastidas

Writer/Producer: Maia Monasterios.

Cinematography: Alba Mora

Country and Year: U.S.A – Ecuador 2011

Language: Spanish with English subtitles.

HD CAM 1080 24p

LINKS/

Dreamtown official website.

PHOTOS/

“We were very afraid of the white men because we thought that they were cannibals.” -Kirari, the oldest Nukak man alive

En Español aquí.

SINOPSIS/

Guests of Space explores the first encounter between the Nukak Maku people and the white man in 1988. “We were very afraid of the white men because we thought that they were cannibals,” says Kirari, the tribe’s oldest man. Known as the last nomads to be contacted in South America, the Nukak Maku have lived a nomadic existence in the tropical forests of Southern Colombia for centuries. But today the Amazon lands that sustain the tribe are being overrun by Colombia’s drug war and the Nukak have been forced to relocate outside their territory.  This film observes the collision of two alien worlds where settlers, missionaries, armed groups and Colombia’s drug war unexpectedly meet and confront.

WEBSITE/

www.guestsofspace.com - Promotional Trailer 2 min. available soon.

Purchase the DVD here.

Write us an e-mail: info@guestsofspace.com

Follow on twitter @guestsofspace

FESTIVALS/

Mill Valley Film Festival -33th Edition, Annual from October 07, 2010 to October 17, 2010. San Francisco, California, USA.

Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia - 8th Edition, Annual from October 16th to 24th 2010. Morelia, Michoacán, México.

International Festival of Sustainable Development Films Ekotopfilm - 37th Edition, Anual, October 11-15, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Kassel Documentary Film Festival – 27 Edition, Annual, from November 9 to 14, 2010, Kassel, Germany, Europe.

Globians Doc Fest Stuttgart -November 12th – 14th, 2010, Stuttgart, Germany.

2010 Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) – December 2010, Anchorage, Alaska.

Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec - -January 28th and Febrary 4th 2011, Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada.

Tartu Festival of Visual Culture - Wednesday March 23rd 2011, Tartu, Estonia, Europe.

Docudays – 8th International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival - March 25—31, 2011 in Kiev, Ukraine.

AWARDS/

2010 Jury Special Mention for the Best Documentary at the Festival de Cinema de Girona.

2010 North Gate Documentary Prize given by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

PHOTOS/

Watch here “Behind the Scenes” photos.

CREDITS/

Produced, Shot, and Edited by Alba Mora Roca

Sound Recordist Betty Bastidas

Production Assistants Carlos Dávalos Barbabosa, Gustavo Posada, Dany Mahecha and Jana Montllor.

Creative Advisors Jon Else and Jean-Philippe Boucicaut

Technical Advisors Kean Sakata and Karen Everett

Ethnographic Advisor Dany Mahecha

Graphics Scott Nolan

Archival Sources Personal photo archive Dany Mahecha and Carlos Franky, Compañía de Informaciones Audiovisuales, AVC Rainbow, RCN TV News Colombia, Iglesia Cristiana Nuevos Horizontes

Translations Manuel Nukak, Mónica Nukak and Joaquín Nukak.

Special Thanks Sally Andrea Mahecha Zabaleta, Consuelo Becerra, Albeiro Riaño, Gonzalo Cocomá Arciniegas, Indira Pinilla, Leo Bejarano, Enric Cassú, Maria Alejandra Pautassi, Distribuidora Don Julio, Richard Koci Hernández, Andrés Cediel, Mostra Audiovisuales Colombia, Jean Christophe Lamy.

Made Possible in Part By A Grant From: Margaret and Will Hearst, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Obra Social “la Caixa”

Produced in the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley.

SPECS./

PRODUCTION COUNTRY

Production Country: SPAIN, U.S.A., MEXICO

Filming Country: Colombia

DATE OF COMPLETION: May 2010

RUNNING TIME: 26 MIN

PRODUCTION STATUS AND SCREENINGS

Completed and only limited non-public screening

DIALOG: ORIGINAL

Main Dialog in Spanish and Nukak.

DIALOG: TRANSLATIONS

English and Spanish subtitles.

PICTURE Color

FORMAT 1.78 (16×9 VIDEO)

SHOOTING HD NTSC

EXHIBITION HDCAM, DVD Region 0, MiniDV, .MOV (Quicktime)

HD FRAME RATES 1080/24P

SOUND Stereo

SCREENERS AVAILABLE FOR FESTIVALS AND INDUSTRY PREVIEWS IN SEVERAL FORMATS BY REQUEST

Secure Online Screener, DVD, MiniDV, .MOV

PUBLICYTY

Promotional Trailer 2 min. available soon.

“I saw something in street toys. I saw moments of joy, and perhaps the fear that this Mexico was disappearing.”

- Roberto Shimizu, toy collector.

Versión Española aquí.

Are you having problems to watch? Please watch it here.

SYNOPSIS/

What does a 65-year-old man do when he has one million toys in his personal collection? Mexican architect Roberto Shimizu opened an underground museum at his home in Mexico City.

The architect’s collection is not the result of a short-term buying spree. Instead he started collecting very young, back in 1955. Shimizu’s parents were Japanese immigrants who ran a business importing food and toys  so his earliest treasures were gifts from them. But most of his toys are objects he recovered from flea markets, bazaars, scrap merchants and a network of suppliers. Today Shimizu has the biggest and most important toy collection in all of Latin America, with pieces that span the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

To someone else, the million-toy collection might look like a fantastic tourist attraction and a chance to make money. But Shimizu deliberately located his museum in a working-class neighborhood, Colonia Doctores, a place people go to buy stolen car parts. He calls it “a live museum for living Mexicans.”

And rather than charge admission, Shimizu has kept the entrance almost free, even though he has no public or private financial support for the enterprise. “I want to show Mexican youth that old toys are truly creative and they encourage sociability,” he says, complaining about the isolating nature of today’s videogames.

The museum is a family-run business. Shimizu’s son,  Roberto Shimizu Jr., organizes visits and events, like the popular collectors’ fair, Collec. Twice a month, collectors of all sorts converge in an empty floor of this museum to exchange their ideas, objects and obsessions. Anyone can sign up for Collec and have a stand. Emerging Mexican artists showcase their work next to comic collectors, publishing houses and freelance designers. All sorts of aficionados and treasure hunters come to this unique fair to explore and discover.

CREDITS/

Directed and Produced by Alba Mora Roca

Duration: 9 min.

Country and Year: Mexico, 2009

Language: Spanish with English subtitles.

Cinematography: Alba Mora Roca

Sound: Carlos Davalos Barbabosa

Editing: Alba Mora Roca

HD Native. Shot with the Sony PMW-EX1.

AWARDS/

Best Documentary Award at the  2010 Chicago Int REEL Shorts Festival, USA.

Silver Palm Winner of the 2010 Mexico International Film Festival, Rosarito Baja California, Mexico.

FESTIVALS/

Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival, 7th, Annual -  September 30, 2010 to October 03, 2010

Docs Df , Categoria Cortometraje Documental Mexicano, 5th Annual – October 21st to October 31st, 2010

San Diego Asian Film Festival, 11th, Annual – October 21, 2010 to October 28, 2010

Red Rock Film Festival of Zion Canyon, 4th Annual from November 11, 2010 to November 14, 2010

SCREENINGS/

Red Rock Film Festival Favorites program -  7 pm on Thursday, December 30 at GoGo37 on 37 E. St. George Blvd., St. George, UT

LINKS/

Metropolis aired “A Mexican toy story” as a recipient of INJUVE Award.

Antique Toy Museum Mexico

Collec Festival

Collecmania Expo Show

Blog del Museo del Juguete Antiguo México

Foro Cultural Mujam

LINKING TO US/

New York Times Lens Blog

Multimedia Shooter

Cookies -n- Cream: Apparel and Designer Toys brand

Juxtable and the Dirty Dog Brothers

Toybot Studios

The Closet Spaceship

“Hay una diferencia con las ciudades importante y es que alla tu tienes algo de acceso a la tierra, y puedes sembrar, que es la cosa critica que no sucede acá”

-Dany Mahecha, Anthropologist Universidad Nacional de Colombia

THE URBAN INDIGENOUS. Cultural Change And City Growth the Amazon/

Watch the complete project here.

Versión en Español aquí.

SYNOPSIS/

The Hernandez, are an indigenous family living in Barrionuevo, a slum of Leticia city, Colombia. Like many other indigenous peoples they moved to the city in the search of jobs, better education and health services. This story takes a look at the challenges of being indigenous in the globalization context.

INDIGENAS URBANOS. Cambio Cultural y Urbanización en la Amazonia/

El proyecto completo se encuentra aquí.

SINOPSIS/

Los Hernández son una familia indígena que vive en Barrionuevo, un barrio de invasión en la periferia de Leticia, Colombia. Como muchos otros indígenas decidieron emigrar a la ciudad en busca de trabajo, una mejor educacion para sus hijos y atención médica. Esta es una mirada a cómo es ser indígena en el contexto de la globalización.

CREDITS/

Directed and Produced by Alba Mora Roca

Duration: 8 min.

Country and Year: Colombia, 2009

Language: Spanish with English subtitles.

Cinematography: Alba Mora Roca

Sound: Carlos Davalos Barbabosa

Editing: Alba Mora Roca

Etnographic Adviser: Enric Cassú Camps

HD Native. Shot with the Sony PMW-EX1.

Watch the full web documentary here.

This is only the 2 min Teaser. To watch the full DVD please contact Clap Film Sales at mo@clipfilmsales.be.

SYNOPSIS/

Je ne suis pas moi-même explores the contradictions within the world of African antiques. Where do the African masks come from? How did they arrive in the showcases of the biggest galleries and collections in Europe? Who decides how much each piece is worth in this post-colonial context? In Europe there’s a market needy of new ethnic art pieces. In Africa they’re in need of economical resources, some are willing to sell their cultural legacy or even fake it if need be. The limits of authenticity grow blurry when sacred objects by those who adored them a very short time ago.

Aired on TVC Channel on December 11, 2007.

AWARDS

2009 11th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, Material Culture and Archaeology Film Prize Leeds, UK.

FESTIVALS/

2009 Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa, Tarifa, Spain.
2009 FIFA International Festival of Films on Art, Montreal, Canada.
2008 Beeld voor Beeld, Documentary Film Festival on Cultural Diversity, Amsterdam.
2009 IDFA Internacional Documentary Film festival Amsterdam

CREDITS/

A co production by Nanouk Films S.L. and Catalan Television Broadcasting (TVC).

Directed, written and co produced by Alba Mora and Anna Sanmartí.

Duration: 52 min.

Country and Year: Cameroon, Belgium and Spain 2007

Language: French, English with English and Spanish subtitles.

Executive Producer: Jordi Ambrós.

Producers: Ventura Durall, Oscar Romagosa.

Cinematography: Alba Mora and Anna Sanmartí.

Sound: Philippos Vardakas, Fabien Essiane

Editing: Vep Culleré.

Music: Pol Ponsarnau

DVCAM Color, Shot on Sony PD-170 DV PAL.

Appear in this film: Jonas Njifouta, Ahmadou Mboumbou, Fabien Essiane

Distribution: Clap Film Sales

LINKS/

Nanouk Films
Catalan Films
Afrika Pasifika Blog

SYNOPSIS/

On September 15, 2008, the 158-year old investment bank Lehman Brothers became the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, its collapse paralyzing the global financial system.

Governments pumped in cash, but the crisis deepened and broadened, crippling industries and crushing hopes with a force not seen since the Great Depression.

As signs of recovery emerge, Reuters charts 365 days of upheaval to see how lives around the globe have changed as a divergent world embarks on an era of historic challenge.

View this special web documentary and interactive timeline at reuters.com/timesofcrisis

CREDITS/

I worked as an associate producer while at my internship at Mediastorm during the summer of 2009.

AWARDS/

First Place for the Best Documentary Project at the Sixty-Seventh Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition 2010

Comissioned story for VJMOVEMENT site.

SYNOPSIS/
Peter Hankoff, a gun enthusiast from Los Angeles, U.S.A., defends his right to own guns in the United States.

CREDITS/
Directed, shot and edited by Alba Mora Roca.
Additional Camera by Meryl O’Connor.
Sound by Lucie Schwartz.
Line Production by Kate Schwerin.

The Brains Behind Pandora Radio.

How the recommendation engine behind Pandora Radio — using the Music Genome Project — figures out what you like to hear.”

Read more

Credits
Reporter: Brian Malow
Camera: Alba Mora
Editor: Valerie Lapinski
Supervising Producer: Craig Duff