10 · 24 · 23 Sean Mattison Presents His Documentary PETRO for the Second Time at the 21st FICM Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard Omar Sosa Topete Director, producer and cinematographer Sean Mattison presented a second screening of the documentary Petro at the 21st Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), accompanied by cinematographer Thomas Laffay and sound designer Juanma López. At the end of the screening, the Colombian Ambassador to Mexico, Álvaro Moisés Ninco Daza and the co-director of the Colombian Human Rights Committee in Washington D.C., Cristina Espinel stepped forward to answer questions from the audience. "This is a fundamental historical record of the process through which the Colombian people decided to change," Ninco Daza said of the film. "We could not believe that this had happened and that this was true, but as you saw in the film, the struggle of the Colombian people has not only been there. We have been fighting all our lives," added Espinel about what it meant to see a change for his country, an event portrayed in the documentary. Touching on technical issues, the team present shared their experience. "For people who don't know about the whole sound design process in the film, it's quite complex. Following a president or a presidential candidate is even more complex," said Juanma López regarding the difficulties and limitations they faced due to security issues during filming. Sean Mattison Thomas Laffay also shared the challenges faced by his department: "It is important to point out how often we are running behind Petro with his security team, this film was made with shoving elbows." He also commented on how difficult it was to set up a shoot with only a couple of hours of preparation and all the traveling they had to do following the presidential candidate. Mattison announced, excitedly, that they are already in talks with Colombian distributors and hopes it will be released in the country by the beginning of 2024.
