Presumed Guilty (film)
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Presumed Guilty | |
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Directed by | Roberto Hernández, Geoffrey Smith |
Produced by | Layda Negrete, Roberto Hernández, Martha Sosa, Yissel Ibarra |
Starring | Antonio Zúñiga Eva Gutiérrez Rafaél Ramirez Heredia |
Edited by | Felipe Gomez Roberto Hernández |
Production companies | Lawyers with Camera; Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía CONACULTA; Fondo para la producción cinematográfica (FOPROCINE) |
Distributed by | Cinépolis |
Release dates |
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Running time | 87 minutes |
Country | Mexico |
Language | Spanish |
Presumed Guilty (
Plot
Two lawyers struggle to free a man, Antonio Zúñiga, who has been wrongly convicted by the Mexican judicial system. Zúñiga was arrested on charges of murder and convicted largely on the testimony of one man. Zúñiga was told by authorities “You did it and that’s it”. Zúñiga was given the sentence of 20 years in prison for a crime that was impossible for him to have committed. Three witnesses explained that he was at his place of work during the time of which he was accused of murder. However, the man was a close relative of the victim who had no firm evidence against Zúñiga, while the accused produced several witnesses able to place him far from the scene of the crime at the time of the murder. Despite this, Zúñiga was found guilty, and when lawyers Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete learned about his case, they agreed to help him. Hernández and Negrete cautiously advised Zúñiga, knowing that many case like his had failed before him and they were fearful of providing Zúñiga and his family with too much hope. Before leaving for graduate school in Berkeley, California, Hernández and Negrete advised the family to go public with this case - they felt it was their best shot at pressuring the Mexican judicial system to admit their error and free Zúñiga. After it was revealed that the lawyer appointed to represent Zúñiga did not have a valid license to practice law, authorities reluctantly agreed to a new trial, but with the same judge, Héctor Palomares Medina, presiding. This judge showed little interest in evidence that Zúñiga was falsely convicted. Battling an arrogant judge, uncooperative witnesses and a legal system riddled with corruption, Hernández and Negrete found that it was easy to prove Zúñiga's innocence, but hard to get the authorities to acknowledge this fact. The conviction was finally overturned in 2008 after the filmmakers persuaded appeal judges to watch their film.[1] Presumed Guilty was a selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
According to the film, in Mexico:
- 95% of verdicts are convictions
- 92% of those convictions are not based on physical evidence
- 78% of inmates are fed by their own families
- 93% of inmates are never shown arrest warrants
- 93% of defendants never see a judge
The story of Presumed Guilty was made into an episode of the TV series "
Ban
In February 2011, Presumed Guilty was released to Mexican audiences and one month later, a judge moved to have the film banned. This action caused the movie to gain unprecedented popularity almost overnight. The distributor said they would continue to show the movie until the order had been formally submitted. The film also spread in the form of unlicensed DVDs. One vendor said he sold 70 copies on a single Saturday, adding that he had only sold that many of other box-office hits over a full week.
Life for Zúñiga
At the end of the film, Zúñiga is shown embracing his wife and child in a joyful reunion. However, he was later said to live in fear of retribution for the film.[2]
Participants
- José Antonio Zúñiga Rodríguez, the wrongly convicted man
- Eva Gutiérrez (wife of Antonio Zúñiga)
- Rafaél Ramirez Heredia (Zuñiga's defense lawyer)
- Roberto Hernández (filmmaker/lawyer)
- Layda Negrete (filmmaker/lawyer)
- Hector Palomares Medina (the judge)
- Maricela Guzman (the prosecutor)
- Victor Daniel Reyes (witness for the prosecution)
- Jose Manuel Ortega Saavedra (Detective)
Production
The film was produced chiefly by Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete. Hernández and Negrete (LL.M. 1996, M.P.P. 1998) are candidates for PhDs in Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. They are married and have two daughters.
Accolades
Presumed Guilty has received numerous awards and honors, including the following:
- Emmy 2010-Outstanding Investigative Journalism
- One World Media (London, 2010) - Best Feature Documentary
- Documenta Madrid (2010) - Best Documentary Award and Audience Award[3]
- East End Film Festival (London, 2010) - Best Feature Documentary
- Los Angeles Film Festival(2010) - Audience Award and Best International Feature
- Human Rights Watch Film Festival (New York, 2010) - Closing Night Film[4]
- Human Rights Watch Film Festival (Toronto, 2010) - Closing Night Film[5]
- San Francisco International Film Festival (2010) - Golden Gate Best Bay Area Documentary
- Guadalajara International Film Festival (2010) - Best Documentary
- Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival(2009) - Amnesty International Award
- Morelia International Film Festival] (2010) - Best Documentary[6]
- Belfast Film Festival (2009) - Maysles Brothers Documentary Award
See also
- Law of Mexico
- Presumption of innocence
- Law enforcement in Mexico
- Mexico City law enforcement
- Crime in Mexico -- corruption
- Federal District Police—the police of Mexico City
- Attorney General of Mexico
References
- ^ a b Tuckman, Jo (2011-03-07). "Mexican film ban attempt elevates Presumed Guilty to box-office hit". The Guardian. Mexico City. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- ^ "DocumentaMadrid". www.documentamadrid.com (in Spanish). 10 May 2023.
- ^ "Home". Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
- ^ "Tonight's Film: 'Presumed Guilty' with Special Guest Mary Jo Leddy | Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
- ^ "Home". Morelia Film Fest. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- ^ "Provocative film 'Presumed Guilty' wins Emmy - SanDiegoRed.com". SanDiegoRed. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- ^ "Elgolfo.info -". Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
External links
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (January 2024) |
- "The uglier face of justice". The Economist. 31 March 2011.
- Official site[permanent dead link] (in English)
- Official site (in Spanish)
- Presumed Guilty at IMDb
- Presumption of Guilt -- Wall Street Journal article
- 'Presumed Guilty' sheds light on failures of Mexico's justice system -- Los Angeles Times article
- 'Presumed Guilty': Kafkaesque tale of injustice -- San Francisco Chronicle article
- Presumed Guilty: Based on an Untrue Story -- Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies article
- Imprisoned In Mexico And 'Presumed Guilty' -- NPR article
- PBS article on the film and P.O.V. television episode
- Presumptions of Guilt: Documentary Spurs Hope for Judicial Reform in Mexico—article in The William and Flora Hewlett FoundationNewsletter
- Two lawyers with cameras help rehabilitate Mexican 'justice', by Cathy Cockrell (1 December 2008)
- Dos abogados Mexicanos, con sus cámaras, ayudan a reformar el sistema judicial de su país, by Cathy Cockrell (1 December 2008) (in Spanish)
- PBS Film Tells Story of Lawyers' Struggle to Free Antonio Zúñiga, by Andrew Cohen (7/26/2010)
- Presunto Culpable, Proven Innocent by Rachel Swan (7/28/2010)
- Filmmakers pursue justice in new documentary (7/15/2010)