SYNOPSIS
In an anonymous motel room on the U.S./Mexico border, a Ciudad Juárez hit man speaks. He has killed hundreds of people and is an expert in torture and kidnapping. He was simultaneously on the payroll of the Mexican drug cartels and a commander of the Chihuahua State Police. There is currently a $250,000 contract on his life and he lives as a fugitive, though he has never been charged with a crime in any country. With his face obscured by a black mesh hood, tells his story to the camera inside the very hotel room he once used to hold and torture kidnapped victims. Aided only by a magic marker and notepad, which he uses to illustrate and diagram his words, the sicario describes, in astounding detail, his life of crime, murder, abduction and torture.
CAST & CREW
Gianfranco Rosi
Director
Producer(s)
Serge Lalou, Gianfranco Rosi
Script
Charles Bowden
Director of Photography
Gianfranco Rosi
Music by
Abraham Spector
Sound
Dominique Vieillard
Edit
Jacopo Quadri
Production company(ies)
Robofilms Les Films d'Ici
Gianfranco Rosi
Gianfranco Rosi was born in Asmara, Eritrea. After attending university in Italy, in 1985 he moved to New York and graduated from the New York University Film School. Following a journey to India, he produced and directed his first documentary film, Boatman, screened with success at various international film festivals including the Sundance IFF, the Locarno IFF and the Toronto IFF. In 2008, Below Sea Level, shot in Slab City, California, won the Orizzonti Award at the Venice IFF. The film also won the Grand Prix and the Prix des Jeunes at the Cinéma du Réel Festival in 2009, the Prize for Best Documentary at the One World FF in Prague, the Vittorio De Seta Prize at the Bif&st 2009 for the Best Documentary and was nominated as Best Documentary at the European Film Awards in 2009. In 2010, he shooted the feature El Sicario, Room 164, a film-interview about a killer from the Mexican drug cartels and won several prizes. In 2013, he made the documentary feature, Sacro GRA, that won the Golden Lion at the Venice IFF.
Filmography
Boatman (1993), Afterwords (2001), Below Sea Level (2008), El Sicario, Room 164 (2010), Sacro GRA (2013), Fire at Sea (2016).
