Director Charlie Minn visited Professor Maggie Stogner’s “Advanced Writing for Documentary Film” class April 4 to discuss his new documentary “8 Murders a Day.”
The film focuses on victims of drug cartel violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Minn is the writer, producer and director of more than six films. His primary focus is documentary films.
In 2010, there were eight murders a day in Juarez City, inspiring the film’s title. In a year, 3,111 people were killed in Juarez.
Minn asserts in the film that the rising death toll is the result of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s declaration of war on the drug cartels. President Calderon declared the war ten days into his presidency in 2006.
Minn showed students clips from his two films on Juarez, “8 Murders a Day” and “Murder Capital of the World,” which opened in theaters in February. The films feature original footage, interviews and disturbing recordings of telephone calls.
“Murder Capital of the World” begins with shaky cell phone footage of a teacher trying to simultaneously distract and protect her kindergarten students as a shooting occurs just outside the classroom. The scene is at once shocking and inspiring.
“8 Murders a Day” depicts similar horrors, relating the story of a group of adults and teenagers that were murdered, seemingly without reason, during a birthday party.
When asked why he chose to focus on Juarez, Minn said he was fascinated by the conflict. Minn divides his time between Manhattan and El Paso, Texas, which borders Juarez. The problems in Mexico are too often overlooked in favor of other international conflicts, Minn said.
“Yeah, this is a Mexico thing. But in the end, it’s a human being thing,” he said.
Minn calls the situation in Juarez “the greatest human rights disaster happening in the world today.” He hopes that the films will increase awareness and attention about the issues in Mexico and particularly Juarez.
Minn, who has made six films in the last two years, went on to answer questions about how to be successful in the documentary film industry. He emphasized the importance of his team, noting four key people without which he could not make his films: his cameraman, graphic designer, composer and editor.
Minn said trusting his team is essential to his success.
“It’s like a kaleidoscope. You turn it and everything falls into place,” Minn said.
He said his next film will focus on Julian Leyzaola, the police chief of Juarez.
“8 Murders a Day” is now open in the D.C. area at Regal Countryside and AMC Hoffman Center theaters.
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