DOCUMENTARIES > PREMIERES' 11 > The Island
April
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The Island
Director: Uli Stelzner
Nationality: Germany,Guatemala (2009)
Duration: 85 minutes
Genre: Historic
Original version in Spanish Direction and screenplay: Uli Stelzner
Executive production: Uli Stelzner, Zoran Solomun and Elke Benz
Direction of photography: Guillermo Escalón
Edition: Alina Teodorescu
So: Eduardo Caceres
Música: Nim Ala, Paulo Alvarado
SYNOPSIS
Guatemala at the end of the 20th century – army and police kill and abduct hundreds and thousands of people. But the unprecedented genocide in America’s modern History goes unpunished. To this day a system of terror and impunity relies on silence being kept and the lack of evidence.
But in July 2005 a huge explosion in the Guatemalan capital leads to the discovery of the historic archive of Guatemala's National Police. On the grounds of today’s Police Academy used to be located the Island, the secret prison of notorious Policia Nacional squads. More than 80 million documents appear.
Stelzner is the only film director with permission to film the archive till today. The film traces the story of a tragedy and finds prove for inconceivable atrocities.
THE DIRECTOR
Uli Stelzner (Germany, 1961) is an author, a director and an independent cinema and video producer in Berlin and Central America. From 1992 he directs and produces documentaries, Mobile Cinema and workshops in Latin America. He collaborates in the Memoria Visual project in order to set up a cinema archive in Guatemala, he is a member of the Association of AGDOK in Germany and co-founder of AGACINE, the Association of Filmmakers of Guatemala. He has directed and co-directed, among others, Somos ambulantes (1987), Ojalá – La esperanza de una nueva tierra (1992), Romper el cerco – Refugiados de una Guerra escondida (1994), Testamento (2003), and Asalto al sueňo (2006).
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
- Dok.Fest München. Munich Documentary Film Festival - Mimikri Media Talent Award. Germany, 2010.
- Festival Internacional de los Derechos Humanos – Special mention. Bolivia, 2010.
- Festival Memoria Verdad Justicia - Best Film and Best Photography Awards. Mexico, 2010.
- Festival Memorimage – Memorial Democràtic Award. Spain, 2010.
- IDFA International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam. The Netherlands, 2009.
- Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente. Argentina, 2010.
