• [en] Announcing preview of "The Engineer"
• [en] El Ingeniero: Communicado de Prensa

For Immediate Release:

{For the Engineer, death is an art and a corpse his friend.}

This new documentary offers a unique and disturbing look at El Salvador’s brutal gang conflict through the eyes of a man whose life revolves around murder.

The film was produced by the award-winning Guerilla Pictures in partnership with and part-funded by Wikileaks (Sunshine Press Productions).

An exclusive preview of {The Engineer} is being screened at the Frontline Club in London on Monday 28 October 2013, at 7:00 PM. See here for details.

Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks: “Few realize how devastating the influence of US criminal gangs has become throughout Central America. Two rival gangs originating in California - MS-13 and 18 Street - kill thousands every year in El Salvador alone. This is the real globalized economy - cheap cocaine for Hollywood noses and mounds of corpses for San Salvador's nameless graves.

In El Salvador the authorities are playing a double game - claiming credit for the peace process between the two gangs, but happy to ignore the recent epidemic of disappearances.

{The Engineer} is a window into this international underground as seen through the work of one man: El Salvador's real-life CSI detective, the brilliant and unorthodox state pathologist, Israel Ticas. This is the story of his grisly mission to unearth the truth buried beneath El Salvador."

For regular updates about {The Engineer} follow @GuerrillaPix on Twitter.

Brief Synopsis:

Israel Ticas is the only criminologist working in one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries: El Salvador. He’s made it his mission to find the hundreds of missing teenagers who have fallen victim to the country’s brutal gang conflict. The mothers of the disappeared affectionately call him {The Engineer}. But for {The Engineer}, death no longer evokes fear.  Death is his every day, it has become his art.  He calls the bodies he finds “friends” and his office walls are a macabre tribute to them all. Through the eyes of {The Engineer} this film offers a unique insight into the fight against gang murders in El Salvador.

Juan Passarelli, co-director: “In a country with so little resources and where people are overworked and underpaid, the Engineer is the only man who seems to care. He’s the only real hope for the families of the disappeared. He’s a one man battalion that aims to find every single missing person in a country where thousands go missing every year.”

Mathew Charles, co-director: “This is a graphic portrayal and some people will be shocked, but this is the reality of what is happening in El Salvador. This is the level of violence that people live with on a daily basis in this part of the world.”

For regular updates about {The Engineer} follow @GuerrillaPix on Twitter.

A Cross-Media Production:

The Engineer is available for different platforms. Each offers the user a unique experience:

a forthcoming feature-length documentary (for distribution inquiries, see below)

a website (www.guerrillapictures.tv/TheEngineer)

an app (available to download for free from iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/engineer-by-guerrilla-pictures/id701477025?mt=8)

The digital versions are multimedia and interactive, with a non-linear narrative structure introducing new characters and providing new opportunities to engage with the story and its wider context. The website and app also offer added insight from the project directors.

Please note that some of the stories and images in this documentary are disturbing and may not be appropriate for some audiences. User discretion is therefore advised.

A press kit is available online with further information on the documentary and the production team, including full HD images and video clips: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e16897k7xwsz7zu/xIGLteqyzS

Ann Luce, digital producer: “Documentaries tend to leave a lot of good material on the cutting room floor, and we couldn't let that happen with this story. Too many lives were at stake, too many stories needed to be told. Our digital versions, for both the web and the IPad go beyond the documentary. They take you behind the scenes, into the lives of the people who have lost loved ones, who are still searching. Our digital versions tell their stories, in their words."

For regular updates about {The Engineer} follow @GuerrillaPix on Twitter.

BACKGROUND TO EL SALVADOR’S GANG TRUCE:

Since the early 1990s El Salvador (population 6 million) has been engulfed by bitter gang rivalry.

In 2011 El Salvador had one of the highest murder rates in the world, with an average of 14 per day.

In March 2012 the government brokered a truce between the two main rival gangs MS-13 and 18 Street. In exchange for better prison conditions, the gangs promised to stop killing each other, which (officially at least) brought down the average homicide rate to 6 per day.

The President has constantly lied about brokering the truce arguing that he does not and never has negotiated with criminals. But most of his closest security advisers and ministers have admitted to being involved with the consent of the President. 

The truce has been significantly weakened in recent months and murders are once again on the rise.

El Salvador holds a Presidential Election on 2nd February and 9th March 2014.

An exclusive preview of {The Engineer} is being screened at the Frontline Club in London on Monday 28 October 2013, at 7:00 PM. See here for details.

For more information and distribution inquiries, contact: matcharles@me.com or juanluispassarelli@yahoo.com

For regular updates about {The Engineer} follow @GuerrillaPix on Twitter.