MEXICO

Cartel Land

hharvey CORRUPTION, MEXICO, R, SPANISH


This July, VICE will partner with The Orchard to promote the release of ‘Cartel Land’ — a Sundance Award-winning documentary about two Mexican vigilante groups and their shared enemy, the drug cartels who wreak havoc on their towns. Filmmaker Matthew Heineman and Executive Producer Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero DarkThirty) get a visceral, on-the-ground look at the a citizen uprising in the Mexican state of Michoacán who are fighting off the violent Knights Templar cartel, and also head to Arizona, where an American veteran is leading a small paramilitary group to make sure Mexico’s drug wars don’t seep across the border.

The documentary is a gripping look at the ways people have come together to maintain justice after larger institutions have crumbled and left them behind. Heineman received both the 2015 Sundance Directing Award as well as the Special Jury Award for Cinematography in the US Documentary competition, and we are proud to help get the film the notice it deserves.

Director: Matthew Heineman

THE PEARL

hharvey BOOK TO MOVIE, CLASSICS, CORRUPTION, CULTURAL, G rated Not Rated, MEXICO, POVERTY

Quino is a Mexican diver who discovers a pearl at the bottom of the sea. He and his wife Juana, and their son have just taken possession of a pearl that is worth thousands. Everyday people try to get in on the cash, even Pearl Dealers try to rip them off. When Quino is attacked one day, he kills his attackers in self defence. His brother suggests their only hope is to leave the village. But on their journey to give their son an education they never had, someone may just do anything to prevent it.

WALKOUT PG13

hharvey CULTURAL, HISTORICAL DRAMA, HISTORY, HUMAN RIGHTS, IMMIGRATION, INDIVIDUALITY/REBELLION, MEXICO, PG13, PREJUDICE, TRIUMPH OF INDIVIDUAL, UNIONS/WORKERS RIGHTS

Based on a true story, student activist and Mexican-American Paula Crisostomo (Vega), tired of being treated unequally, decides to take action and stage a walkout at five East Los Angeles high schools in 1968, to protest educational conditions and complain of anti-Mexican educational bias along with some 10,000 students. Paula Crisostomo (now Romo) is not Mexican- American–she is Filipina-American. She and her husband, then boyfriend were roommates of mine in college. We are very good friends and I see her often.
– Written by Norma Schaffer