11 · 10 · 06

Bajo Juárez Raises Awareness about Killings.

Clara Sánchez

Alejandra Sánchez and Antonio Cordero´s documentary feature Bajo Juárez, winner of the Titra Special Prize at the  IV FICM,  stunned the audience at the National Cinematheque.

This film exposes the negligence of the authorities and how they’ve sabotaged the investigations into the Ciudad Juarez killings. 

Bajo Juárez takes up the work of journalists Diana Washington and Sergio González and denounces the lack of interest on the part of the state and federal government to solve the crimes.

The audience chatted with Cordero after the screening.

Congratulations, this film is excellent, thank you for showing it to us. How are you going to promote your work? First of all, we plan to take advantage of screening opportunities, like this one, and, just as they did last year with the documentary Toro Negro, Cinépolis Theaters is going to screen our film. Also, we’re going to be part of Ambulante´s 2007 tour; we plant to show it in several universities and bring it out on DVD.

How long did it take to make this film?
Production began in 2001, when Alejandra made a short documentary called Ni una más. After that, she began this project: we started shooting, collecting stock footage and archive material from different sources in 2003. Post-production took about two years. Finally, by the middle of 2005, we had finished the film.

What difficulties did you run into?
The typical difficulties one encounters... government officials are obliged to answer questions in front of a camera, because of the Transparency and Access to Information Law. Editing was the most difficult part of the whole process. We started out with an idea, which changed over time as more information about the crimes became known. In 2004, we showed IMCINE our work and they gave us a scholarship, which enabled us to finish post-production on the movie.

Was it difficult to gather material for the film?
No, most of the footage belongs to independent journalists from Ciudad Juarez; the media puts out their work, but the journalists own their footage. Most of them are from Juarez, so they are aware of what´s going on.

The work you´ve done here is very important, I´d like to know how we, as citizens, can help to get the word out, so young people begin to realize what´s going on in their country.
The purpose of this audiovisual document is to spread information and engage the audience as much as possible, so they join us in condemning these crimes. Unfortunately, movies don´t have the power to transform society like the media does. Crimes go unpunished, the real perpetrators are protected; the judicial system doesn´t work. Alejandra and I want to spread the word; it´s something we´ve wanted to do since last year. This project didn´t start off with a great deal of possibilities, so the fact that it will be transferred to film and we’ll have multiple copies of it is a victory, we´ve come a long way. One of the prizes we won at Morelia was precisely the video to film transfer. Even though this sounds trite and it has been said a thousand times before, I think our job, as a society, is to develop awareness and take action. The fist step is to acquire information; then, to gain awareness of these issues and finally, to act, and make sure other people feel empowered to make a difference, by any means possible.

How has the government reacted?
They are completely oblivious to what goes on in the country or Mexico´s history. As you see in the film, Norma Andrade delivers a written denunciation to the president. However, Fox doesn’t listen, he starts to talk, like he always does, and saying foolish things, as he himself describes i