Those Next to Us
In breathtaking words, the Mexican Germán López Rosales describes his experiences of a human smuggling operation from the US border town of Laredo to San Antonio, Texas. Next to Germán, locked up inside the cargo area of a tractor-trailer, eight of the 39 migrants died that day due to the intense heat and lack of water. Two others passed away later in hospital.
Bernhard Hetzenauer is a film director, producer and media artist. He studied art, film and psychotherapy in Vienna, New York, Quito, Buenos Aires and obtained an MFA in Film from the HFBK Hamburg and an MFA in Scenography from the University of Applied Arts Vienna. His films have been shown in 38 countries. Hetzenauer received grants from the DAAD, Stiftung Kunstfonds, SRE Mexico, Werkleitz/Goethe Institut/FONCA Mexico and the Austrian Ministry of Culture. His books “Das Innen im Außen” on Béla Tarr and “Faces of Athens” on the Greek healthcare crisis were published by Alexander Verlag Berlin/Cineteca Nacional Mexico City and Revolver Publishing Berlin. His documentary short “La sombra de un dios – A God’s Shadow”, the first part of his Mexican trilogy, screened at the Viennale, Saarbruecken, Sheffield, Málaga, Guadalajara, Morelia, Cartagena, Ann Arbor, etc. It won main awards at Crossing Europe, DocsMX, Shorts Mexico, or FINI Hidalgo. The second part, “The Birthmark”, screened at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, St. Louis, Nijmegen, Grimstad, Morelia, and many others. “Those Next to Us” is the trilogy’s third part. Hetzenauer lives and works in Mexico City, Berlin and Vienna.