As a member of the jury at an international human rights documentary film festival, I did not get the chance to award “Vivos” for the best prize in its category. But coming from Latin America and having witnessed this social tension up close, I felt the urge to write about “Vivos”.
Directed by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, “Vivos” is a film about the pain and ongoing struggle of the families of 43 Mexican students from Ayotzinapa who disappeared in 2014. However, it is also about the State as a perpetrator of race- and class-based violence and its role in the enforced disappearance of citizens – an open wound in recent Latin American history.
The film's artistic composition highlights the colorful intimacy of Mexican families, balanced with the use of talking heads of the families and friends of the missing students. Ai Weiwei allows the affected families to recount their version of the ‘Case of 43 Ayotzinapa missing students’ or the ‘Iguala mass kidnapping’.
