Cartel Land

Cartel Land

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Matthew Heineman
Produced by
Music by
Cinematography
  • Matthew Heineman
  • Matt Porwoll
Edited by
  • Matthew Hamachek
  • Matthew Heineman
  • Bradley J. Ross
  • Pax Wassermann
Production
companies
  • The Documentary Group
  • Our Time Projects
Distributed by The Orchard
Release dates
  • July 3, 2015 (2015-07-03)
Running time
 100 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $792,194[2]

Cartel Land is an Oscar nominated 2015 documentary film directed by Matthew Heineman about the Mexican Drug War, especially vigilante groups fighting Mexican drug cartels. The film focuses on Tim "Nailer" Foley, the leader of Arizona Border Recon, and Dr José Mireles, a Michoacán-based physician who leads the Autodefensas. The film received the 2015 Documentary Film Award from the George Polk Awards in Journalism.[3]

Heineman won the Best Director Award and Special Jury Award for Cinematography for the film in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where the documentary premiered.[4] He was presented the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary by the Directors Guild of America,[5] as well as the 2015 Courage Under Fire Award for the film by the International Documentary Association.[6] The film was also nominated for Best Documentary at the 68th British Academy Film Awards[7] and for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.[8]

On February 12, 2015, Orchard Films acquired the rights to the film.[9] Cartel Land was released theatrically in the summer of 2015 and aired on A&E on January 4, 2016.[10]

Production

Heineman got the idea for the film after reading about Arizona Border Recon in an article in Rolling Stone magazine, and then his father sent him a Wall Street Journal article about José Manuel Mireles and the Autodefensas.[11][12] "The minute I read that article, I knew I wanted to create a parallel story of vigilantes on both sides of the border. I wanted to know what happens when government institutions fail and citizens feel like they have to take the law into their own hands."[12]

The film was shot in Michoacán, southwest Mexico and in Arizona.[13]

He was inspired by The Square in the making of the film.[14]

Reception

Cartel Land received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 90% rating based on 69 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Raw, brutal, and bitter, Cartel Land offers a ground-level look at vigilante efforts to thwart organized crime at the Mexican-American border."[15] On Metacritic, the film has a 76 out of 100 rating based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[16] Cartel Land appeared on over twenty critics' lists for best documentary and best film of 2015. It was listed as the #1 documentary of 2015 by Indiewire's The Playlist and by Paste Magazine, which also named Heineman as the best new filmmaker of the year.[17][18][19] On December 1, the film was selected as one of 15 shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[20]

Awards and nominations

Award Category Recipients and nominees Result
Academy Awards[21] Best Documentary Feature Cartel Land Nominated
British American Film Awards[22] Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival Audience Award Cartel Land Nominated
Ashland Independent Film Festival Best Documentary Cartel Land Won
Austin Film Critics Association Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Feature Cartel Land Nominated
Champs-Élysées Film Festival Best American Feature Film Cartel Land Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Cinema Eye Honors Awards Outstanding Achievement in Direction Matthew Heineman Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score Jackson Greenberg and H. Scott Salinas Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Production Cartel Land Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll Won
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Film Cartel Land Nominated
Cinema for Peace [23] Cinema for Peace Award for the Most Valuable Documentary of the Year Cartel Land Won
Dallas International Film Festival Best Feature Documentary Award Cartel Land Nominated
Director's Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Matthew Heineman Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
George Polk Awards Documentary Film of 2015 Cartel Land Won
Gotham Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Hamburg Film Festival Political Film Award Cartel Land Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Feature Cartel Land Nominated
Indiewire Critics' Poll Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
International Documentary Association Courage Under Fire Award Matthew Heineman Won
Italia Film Festival Best Documentary Cartel Land Won
Little Rock Film Festival Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Milwaukee Film Festival Best Film Cartel Land Nominated
Moscow International Film Festival Best Documentary Film Cartel Land Won
New Hampshire Film Festival Best Documentary Film Cartel Land Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Phoenix Critics Circle Best Documentary Film Cartel Land Nominated
Reykjavik International Film Festival Audience Award Cartel Land Won
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Won
Satellite Awards Best Motion Picture, Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Sheffield International Documentary Festival Tim Hetherington Award Cartel Land Won
Grand Jury Award Cartel Land Nominated
St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Documentary Film Cartel Land Nominated
Stockholm Film Festival Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Cinematography Award Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll Won
Directing Award Matthew Heineman Won
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Documentary Cartel Land Nominated

See also

References

  1. ↑ "CARTEL LAND (15)". British Board of Film Classification. August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Cartel Land (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  3. ↑ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cartel-land-wins-george-polk-866491. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Award Winners". www.sundance.org. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  5. ↑ http://variety.com/2016/film/news/directors-guild-winners-announced-1201699333/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "31st Annual IDA Awards". International Documentary Association. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  7. ↑ "Bafta Film Awards 2016: Nominations". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  8. ↑ "Oscars 2016 Nominations: Complete List of Nominees". Eonline. January 14, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  9. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (February 12, 2015). "Sundance: The Orchard Nabs North American Rights to 'Cartel Land' (Exclusive)". Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  10. ↑ "A&E IndieFilms - Cartel Land - More Info". aetv. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  11. ↑ Koo, Ryan. "Meth Labs, Machine Guns, and Bulletproof Vests: Matthew Heineman on Filming Sundance Winner 'Cartel Land'". No Film School. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  12. 1 2 http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-to-tell-a-cartel-story
  13. ↑ "Drug Resistance". The Economist. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  14. ↑ Jaremko-Greenwold, Anya. "Meet the 2015 Sundance Filmmakers #62: Matthew Heineman Braves Mexican Drug Cartels In 'Cartel Land'". Indiewire. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Cartel Land". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Cartel Land". Metacritic.
  17. ↑ Staff, The Playlist. "The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2015". The Playlist. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  18. ↑ "The 20 Best Documentaries of 2015". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  19. ↑ "The 20 Best New Filmmakers of 2015". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  20. ↑ "15 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES ADVANCE IN 2015 OSCAR® RACE". December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  21. ↑ Los Angeles, Times Staff (2016-01-14). "Oscars 2016: Complete list of nominees". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  22. ↑ "Film in 2016 | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  23. ↑ "Cinema for Peace Foundation"

External links

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