Screening: Who Is Dayani Cristal? + Q&A

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Marc Silver.

 

On 3 August 2010, border police discovered a decomposing male body beneath a cicada tree deep in Arizona’s sun-blistered Sonora Desert. The only clue that may lead to his identity is a tattoo that reads “Dayani Cristal”. Who is this person? What brought him here? How did he die?

Director Marc Silver chronicles the story of this migrant found in the strip of desert known as “the corridor of death”. This one life becomes testimony to the tragic results of the US war on immigration. As the forensic investigation unfolds, Mexican actor and activist Gael Garcia Bernal retraces this man’s steps along the migrant trail in Central America.

In an effort to understand what it must have felt like to make this final journey, Bernal embeds himself among migrant travellers on their own mission to cross the border. He experiences first-hand the dangers they face and learns of their motivations, hopes and fears. As we travel north, these voices from the other side of the border wall give us a rare insight into the human stories which are so often ignored in the immigration debate.

Directed by Marc Silver
Duration: 85′
Year: 2013