Presume Guilty
The life of Toño Zúñiga, a 26-year-old “tianguista” from Iztapalapa, changed forever when on Monday, December 12th, 2005, a police patrol from Mexico City abruptly arrested him, accusing him of killing a man whom he had never even met, and at a specific time when witnesses had located him elsewhere. Despite this fact, and faced with the serious shortcomings of our system of imparting justice – most noticeably, the absence of innocence presumption and the obligation to hold oral trials in our legislation–, Toño was incarcerated without due process.
Lawyers Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete took the case pro-bono and decided, with homemade tools, to document part of the process on video, not only to influence the public opinión, but to press in order to accomplish a reform in the judicial system. When they came into contact with film producers Martha Sosa, Nicolás Vale and Yissel Ibarra, they had the vision to summon the Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Geoffrey Smith to co-direct, in order to turn it into a documentary feature film whose projection – in every sense of the word – allowed not just to help Toño but to change reality.
The resulting film, “Presunto culpable”, won 13 awards at festivals ranging from Morelia and Guadalajara to Los Angeles and Madrid, in addition to an Emmy, but that’s the least of it; its highest accolades were Toño´s freedom and a reform to our criminal legislation, same which now contemplates both the presumption of innocence and oral trials.
For more information visit IMDB: imdb.com/title/tt1320254/?ref_=nm_knf_i2
Those who stay
Nicolás is executive producer of “Los que se quedan” (2017), the award-winning documentary feature film by Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Hagerman.
“Los que se quedan” was born in the boardroom of BBVA Bancomer with its advertising agency, Vale Network: the bank wanted to target its communication to the migrant families that receive remittances, and link this to a social responsibility project; Nicolás responded not with an advertising solution, but with an Art Project that embedded a social agenda.
Thus, he commissioned the aforementioned directors – widely renowned documentary filmmakers – to jointly develop a film about the problems and daily life of Mexican families whose members have migrated to the United States – “those who stay” – with full creative and discursive freedom. The resulting film won 13 international awards (non-advertising: cinematographic) – and garnered 8 nominations for the Spanish Goya.
Brinca Animation Workshop
Brinca is an animation workshop whose purpose is to generate complex, attractive and challenging content for children, at world-class level: one of its founders is Nicolás. His productions emphasize the importance of translating the world’s problems into a language that any child can understand. Its productions include:
• The Invisible Children – Animated feature film. 75 mins.
• The Incredible D – Animated Feature Film for Children. 85 mins.
• Diver – Animated series
• VeoVeo – Animated series for preschool, 26 x 3 mins.
Chango & Chancla
The first animated television series with purely educational content in Mexico, “El Chango y la Chancla” addresses the relationship between brothers. Chango is a character that takes things lightly, – but who is nevertheless clever at getting what he wants – while Chancla, the older sister, is self-aware and deeply intense in her feelings: when she is in a good mood she is the most fun, but when she is in a bad state there is no human power to change her mind. The contrast between their personalities and interaction puts into effect the differences between siblings and, with a psycho-pedagogical approach, offers tools in order to overcome them within the intrafamily environment. “El Chango y la Chancla” consists of 13 episodes, of 13 minutes each.