Browse Films

 

Sometimes a film makes history; it doesn’t just document it. So it is with “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator”, the astonishing new film by Pamela Yates, Paco de Onís and Peter Kinoy. Part political thriller, part memoir, Yates transports us back in time through a riveting, haunting tale of genocide and returns to the present with a cast of characters joined by destiny and the quest to bring a malevolent dictator to justice.

As if a watchful Maya god were weaving back together threads of a story unraveled by the passage of time, forgotten by most, our characters become integral to the overarching narrative of wrongs done and justice sought that they have pieced together, each adding their granito, their tiny grain of sand, to the epic tale.

 

How can a documentary film contribute to social movements? By telling a story that captures the zeitgeist of a historical moment, that stirs and inspires audiences to reflect and to act. In this past year Granito: How to Nail a Dictator screened around the globe, from Amman to Auckland, Paris to Havana, São Paulo to Vancouver, New York to Moscow, Geneva to Lima, in over 50 film festivals. In screening after screening, audiences connected to the theme of the power of collective change espoused in Granito, resonating with the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements.  But most remarkably, Granito's release added its 'grain of sand' to the tipping point for justice reached in Guatemala this year, where more perpetrators of the genocide against the Maya people have been arrested, tried and convicted  than in the previous 30 years since we released When the Mountains Tremble .  And now to reinforce that tipping point, we are launching a companion digital project designed to restore the collective memory of the genocide in a public online archive, described here - Granito: Every Memory Matters.  The film's journey is reflected in theGranito Facebook page, where nearly 4,000 followers have rallied, sharing stories, news, and demanding justice.  And to get a sense of the people behind all of this, check out this slide show of photos of 'granitos'by renowned portraitist Dana Lixenberg.

 

GRANITO….is contributing significantly to our understanding of the past, the present, and the future of Guatemala, Latin America and the United States.
…It is a work that deserves to thrive in the classrooms of American, Spanish, and Latin American universities.
Dennis West
Cineaste

Part courtroom drama, part political thriller and part war movie, Granito: How to Nail A Dictator is one of the most compelling. gripping and inspiring documentaries of the year to date. Watching the film, you feel that you're privy to an insider's experience in furthering the fight for human rights and justice.
Jennifer Merin
About.com Documentaries

“Granito"...is more than just a guide to bringing a despot to justice. It is also Ms. Yates’s personal reflection on the purpose and craft of documentary filmmaking, on more than 50 years of tumultuous history in Guatemala, and on how her own views on both those subjects have evolved...the issues Ms. Yates raises...could hardly be more timely.
Larry Rohter
The New York Times

An engagement with the past that truly puts the ‘document’ in documentary.
Nicolas Rapold
Wall St. Journal

AWARDS & SCREENINGS:

• Founders Award, Traverse City Film Festival 2011
• Best Creative Documentary, Paris International Human Rights Film Festival 2011
• Peace & Reconciliation Award in Honor of Sergio Vieira de Mello, Geneva International Human Rights Film Festival 2011
• Official Selection, Documentary Premieres, Sundance Film Festival 2011
• Opening Night Film, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2011
• Jury Grand Prize, Politics on Film Festival 2011, Washington DC

Resource Web Sites

Facebook Granito page