- [es] El documental de WikiLeaks "El Ingeniero" va a Hot Docs 2014
- [en] WikiLeaks film "The Engineer" goes to Hot Docs 2014
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ANNOUNCED TODAY: THE WIKILEAKS AND AWARD-WINNING GUERRILLA PICTURES DOCUMENTARY THE ENGINEER WILL BE COMPETING FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY AS PART OF THE OFFICIAL SELECTION AT HOT DOCS CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL 2014
{For the Engineer, death is an art and a corpse is his friend}
This documentary, co-produced with the award-winning Guerrilla Pictures, offers a unique and disturbing look at El Salvador’s brutal gang conflict through the eyes of a man whose life revolves around murder.
The film was produced in partnership with and co-funded by WikiLeaks (Sunshine Press Productions).
The documentary will be screened as part of the Hot Docs programme in Toronto on May the 1st, May the 2nd, and May the 3rd, 2014.
For more details on the festival, visit http://www.hotdocs.ca/
★★★★★ “Gripping, shocking and digging into the hell of the mass-scale violence shattering El Salvador, El Ingeniero performs a valuable service.” l-Espresso, Italy
★★★★ “Hard-hitting and emotionally gruelling” The Upcoming, UK
Watch the trailer here.
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks: “Few realize how devastating the influence of US criminal gangs has become throughout Central America. Two rival gangs originating in California - MS13 and 18 Street - kill thousands every year in El Salvador alone. This is the real globalized economy – cheap cocaine for Hollywood noses and mounds of corpses for San Salvador's nameless graves.”
“In El Salvador the authorities are playing a double game - claiming credit for the peace process between the two gangs, but happy to ignore the recent epidemic of disappearances.”
“The Engineer is a window into this international underground as seen through the work of one man: El Salvador's real-life CSI detective, the brilliant and unorthodox state pathologist, Israel Ticas. This is the story of his grisly mission to unearth the truth buried beneath El Salvador.”
Brief Synopsis of the film:
Israel Ticas is the only criminologist working in the General Attorney’s office of one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries: El Salvador. He’s made it his mission to find the hundreds of missing teenagers who have fallen victim to the country’s brutal gang conflict. The mothers of the disappeared affectionately call him The Engineer. But for The Engineer, death no longer evokes fear. Death is his every day, it has become his art. He calls the bodies he finds “friends” and his office walls are a macabre tribute to them all. Through the eyes of The Engineer this film offers a unique insight into the fight against gang murders in El Salvador.
Juan Passarelli, co-Director: “In a country with so little resources and where people are overworked and underpaid, the Engineer is the only man who seems to care. He’s the only real hope for the families of the disappeared. He’s a one man battalion that aims to find every single missing person in a country where thousands go missing every year.”
*Mathew Charles, co-director: * “This is a graphic portrayal and some people will be shocked, but this is the reality of what is happening in El Salvador. This is the level of violence that people live with on a daily basis in this part of the world.”
A Cross-Media Production:
The Engineer is available for different platforms. Each offers the user a unique experience:
a feature-length film (will be made available on demand in the future)
a webdoc
an app (available to download for free from iTunes here).
The digital versions are multimedia and interactive, with a non-linear narrative structure introducing new characters and providing new opportunities to engage with the story and its wider context. The website and app also offer added insight from the project directors.
Please note that some of the stories and images in this documentary are disturbing and may not be appropriate for some audiences. User discretion is therefore advised.
For more information and distribution inquiries, contact: matcharles@me.com or juanluispassarelli@yahoo.com
For regular updates about The Engineer follow @GuerrillaPix on Twitter.